Presnell Families- Lee Monroe; Hattie

Presnell Families- Lee Monroe; Hattie

Counce's grandson Reverend Lee Monroe Presnell (1876–1963), along with several other members of the Hicks-Harmon families, was featured on the excellent recordings produced by Sandy Paton and Lee B. Haggerty on Folk-Legacy

Lee Monroe Presnell, the youngest of ten children, was born in May 15, 1876 on the "Wataugy" river. His father was Eli Murphy Presnell and his mother was Council Harmon's daughter Louisa Jane Harmon . Married Kizzie b.1879 in 1897. had 5 children, Dewey (1900-1959),  Etter (1904- )David Lee (1906-1985), Eliza 'Liza" (1909-2003) Lena (1911-2007)

Hattie Kneevist Hicks, the daughter of Roby Monroe Hicks and Buna Hicks was born June 9, 1907 she married Dewey Presnell, (Lee Monroe's son) when she was 19. Dewey spent 11 years of his childhood in Arkansas and learned songs from Ida McIntrye that Hattie also learned.

Dulcimer player/maker Edd Presnell (1917–1994) of Banner Elk, North Carolina. Edd Presnell was raised in a musical family and community near Beech Mountain. The area was home to storytellers, ballad singers, banjo pickers, instrument builders, and toy makers. He was particularly interested in woodworking. He first heard a dulcimer when his future wife, Nettie Hicks, came by with an instrument her father, Ben, built. "I was 15 or 16," Presnell recalled, "and Nettie brought the dulcimer over and played it." With help from his future father-in-law, Presnell made his first dulcimer in 1936. Between the mid-1950s and mid-1970s, Presnell made more than 1,100 dulcimers. He and Nettie received the Brown-Hudson Folklore Award in 1974 for dulcimer making and woodcarving. In addition to making dulcimers, the Presnells hand-carved animals from wood, and they traveled around the region to fairs and festivals to sell their work, including at the North Carolina State Fair in Raleigh.


"Awake, Awake, My Old True Lover" sung by Lee Monroe Presnell; also Hattie Presnell

1 Awake, awake, my old true lover;
Awake, arise, it's almost day.
How can you bear those thoughts of[1] sleeping,
And your true love going away?

2 "Oh, who is that a-knocking at my window?
I pray you'll tell to me."
"It's me, it's me, your old true lover;
Awake, arise, come pity me."

3 "Go love, go and ask your father
If this night you could be my bride.
 If he says no, so return and tell me;
 [It will] be my last time ever bother thee."

4 "I can't go and ask my father,
For he's on his bed of rest,
And by his side there lies a weapon
To kill the one that I love best."

5. Go love, go and ask your mama
If this night you could be my bride.
If she says no, so return and tell me;
[It'll] Be my last time ever bother thee.

6 "I can't go and ask my mama
And tell her of your love so dear.
You may go and court some other
And whisper soft-lie in her ear.

 7 "I will go to some wide river,
Spend my days, my months and years;
Eat anything but the green growing willows,
Also drink from my flowing tears.

 8 "Come back, come back, my old true lover
And stay a little while with me.
I will forsake my dear old mother
And go along by the side of thee."

1. sings what sounds like "soft, soft"