Looking back toward Western Grove. These beautiful scenery photos of Arkansas were borrowed from our MyFamily site added by David Lee E. Thank you for Sharing.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Lena Mae: 1959Did you ever hear of holeing up sweet potatoe turnips? Well, we did on on our farm. Papa would did a hole in the ground and we children lined it with straw, and filled it full of turnips and potatoes. The hold was then covered with dirt so the vegetables would not freeze. Our cellar was filled to capacity with canned fruits and vegetables.
The winters were always cold up in the hills of Northwest Arkansas, and we were so happy to see spring come. About the 1st day of April each year, Mama would permit us to roll our long cotton stockings below our knees, and, as the weather go a little warmer we were allowed to shed our long handled underware.
Many was the time Mama made us grape jelly, out of wild grapes, we climbed to the top of some tree to get. One day Molly and I brought the cows from the pasture to be milked, and along with them we brought our pockets full of sheepshires. After much begging on our part, Mama made us sheepshire cobbler.
Mama never had time to do any fancy cooking. I don't ever remember her icing a cake. As soon as we smelled it cooking we would gather around to take care of it when Mama took it from the oven.
Our main crops were corn, wheat, oats, alfalfa, and soybeans. When we were not planting or reaping a crop, we were mending fences or cleaning out the barn to store a new supply of grain. We would hurry to get our work done so we could have some time to play.
Papa took pride in keeping our barn filled with corn, oats, and hay. I believe we had the largest barn in our neighborhood. It was built on the side of the hill, therefore we had underground concrete stables. We loved to play around the barn. The loft was just high enough for us to jump out of the window without breaking our legs. The barn doors sagged a little because there was always children swinging on them
Molly: 1990Papa was only 18 years old when he and mama got married--she was 17. Before their first wedding anniversary, they had their first child, a stillborn baby girl. From there on, until Papa was 40 years old they had a new baby at least every other year. That was a tremendous responsibility for such a young couple. Times were "hard" in those days and farming and raising cattle and hogs were their only means of livelihood. Not too productive during the depression years. He was a very strict disciplinarian, which was necessary in keeping a large family. Walking that straight and narrow path. He rewarded truthfullness and honesty with a lesser punishment for our infraction of the rule than if you lied about it. that was condusive to character building. If you deserved a whipping, you had to go outside and cut your own switch. Of course, I was just an innocent observer. Ha
He certainly taught us responsibility. We all learned and had to work at an early age. The most of us children at different times performed all the various chores necessary in raising a family on a large un-modern farm, such as: carrying water from the spring, searching for the cows over many acres and bringing them home and milking them, cutting wood for the cook stove and fireplace, cooking breakfast and making school lunches, etc. The lesson I learned in responsibility was to be sure you find the cows whenn you go looking for them in the evening otherwise you had to get up early the next morning, go look fo rthe cows and find them, then take them home, milk them and walk three miles to school. That was a powerful lesson in responsibility-another character building block.
Papa always stressed the importance of education. We weren't allowed to stay home from school for anything except illness and that meant being bedfast. During the depression, many children had to drop out of school because their parents couldn't afford to buy their books or pay for their tuition, but papa paid our tuition in farm products and he was so proud of Gus when he went to College. He couldn't help much financially with Gus' expenses, but I do remember a cotton patch that was marked, "Gus' College Money."
Papa was proud of all of his children. I can remember him helping me with my 8th grad math. He was very smart for a man of his day. Mama said that he had a "good business head on him." Another thing I remember about papa that made a good impression on me when I was a child was that when two of the children got into a fight, he would make them shake hands when the fight was over- another building block for good character.
Although papa was a very hard task master whenever he supervised your task, like pulling weeds out of the corn--he also had a soft touch. He would take us fishing at the Buffalo River whenever our work was "caught up" on the farm. He was always our "family doctor" and "dentist". He would tell us to shut our eyes when he was going to lance a boil or pull a tooth. Rarely did we ever to go a doctor.
Joe, I remember how fond papa was of you. Of course we are all very fond of you--you were so sweet & good. Papa got you a little red wagon for Christmas when you were 6 years old. Just before he was killed. he was "harder" on the older boys, but he was much easier on you and the other younger ones. I think the best proof of the quality of our parents influence on us is to look at the lives and accomplishments of the 12 children they raised-some to adulthood and some through their formative years.
You have a heritage to be proud of, but along the way there have been some unfortunate events that have shaped all of our lives different than we would have liked it, but there remains that strong, loving tie that binds our family together and that of our departed loving mother and father forever.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Lena Mae: 1959
My mother told me the sad story of how little Willie struggled to overcome diptheria, but lost the battle and passed away at the age of two. My second mother was my older sister, Beatrice Inez. Although she was only seven years older than I she helped take care of me and the other younger children, and we really looked to her for help. Inez did her best to help Mama keep us fed and clothed. I remember Mama said to me one day, "Whether you have one child or a dozen, you are busy twenty four hours a day," She was speaking from experience too, for she and Papa brought fourteen healthy children into this world, demanding to be fed, clothed, and loved. In order to meet this great demand, Papa and Mama always lived on a farm, therefore our living came directly out of the soil, by the sweat of our brows.
The first seven years of my life we lived on a big farm about one mile from Yardell, Arkansas. There was plenty of work to b done. At the age of five, I was milking cows with the older children, carrying water from the spring, and doing many other chores.
My first day of school was a big experience for me, and my older sister Ruby Jane too. I expect she will never forget how she held my little hand all the way to school, because Mama told her not to let me stop and play in a mud puddle. I saw some big full puddles and could have made beautiful mud pies if Ruby had been a little more understanding. She was only two years older than I, but she acted like a mother to me that first day of school. He patience seemed to never end. I don't think she learned anything herself that day, because she was too busy helping me. How else would my teacher, Miss Winnie Shinn, have known my name if Ruby had not been there to tell her. I was too bashful to say anything to Miss Winnie, much less repeat my funny sounding name to her.
In 1925, Papa hitched the horses to the wagon and packed it full of furniture and three babies (Molly, Irene,& Garland) and moved us to a farm about two miles north from the old home place. This farm had belonged to Grandfather.
I was only seven when we moved to our new home. We entered the Western Grove School, and it seemed so big compared to Yardelle's one room school. By the time we were finished with all the chores and walked three miles to school, it was time for books. When school was over for the day, we started on our long journey home.
Mama always had a hot supper cooked. After eating, we started doing the chores again. Sometimes we lingered too long at the table and had to milk by latern light.
In the summer we picked blackberries and sold them for spending money. In 1930 Papa bought a big ton truck to haul cattle and hogs to market. When papa and Mama went to Western Grove to get the corn ground for meal and get groceries, we twelve children would jump in the back end of the truck and make the trip too.
There were so many snakes on our farm that almost everytime I would go to the spring to get a bucket of water there would be a snake in the path. My brother, "Doc" had a habit of catching blue racer snakes by the tail and slinging them around and around then popping their heads off by hitting them on the ground. One day he went to school with a tiny blue racer inside his shirt. He wasn't satisfied to just scare everyone on the school ground, so he took the snake in the school house-then is when the teacher took charge. "Doc" brought no more snakes to school.
One might wonder how our parents managed to feed and clothe us 12 children. We had a truck patch of tomatoes, cabbage, melons, in the springtime. Then in the fall, we had another of peanuts and sweet potatoes. We sold the produce from the truck patches for money to buy the necessities of life.
We had the only molasses mill in our neck of the woods. I loved sorghum making time. People from miles around would bring their cane stalks to make into sorghum. The smell of sweet sorghum cooking was one of my fondest childhood memories.
Irene: July 2008
I understand that mama married at age 15 and started having children almost immediately.
She could not have had too much schooling, but was able to read & write quite well.
She was beautiful & cared deeply for all of us. Joe, she thought the world of you & was proud of anything you did. As a matter of fact, we all considered you OUR BABY. We fought over which one of us got to hold you or help you in any way. It's a wonder you didn't end up being spoiled rotten!! I would like to think I could be half the mother she was. She was devastated when Papa died, but was determined to keep the family together and was insulted when Grandpa Clifton referred to us as Orphans thereafter. I'm sorry you don't remember all the good times we had growing up. I only wish somebody was smart enough to write a book about our struggles and blessings. Just remember that we are unique and exceptional in that we have been able to keep in touch to keep close and have missed the greatest blessing--that of having the love and care of family throughout the years.
Garland: 1974
I was expelled from the Western Grove, Arkansas consolidated school in the spring of 1936, when I was 13 years of age, for refusing to let the school superintendent whip me for misconduct.
Irene: 1974
We really had a lot of ups and downs with that bus and school business. I usta be glad to see school time come, though, cause it made the folks ease-up on the home chores just a little. Of course, all the water carrying, cow-hunting, milking, wood-chopping, and carrying still had to be done, school or not. But the gardening, hoeing, planting, gathering, hay-bailing, etc. was usually behind us by September. In a way, school sorta cramped my style because I had to come out of Mama's old feed sack dress and put on shoes and try to keep from whistling in study hall, but all in all I loved it.
Glen: 1974
Garvin, just older than I, were close in age and so were together quite a bit, and usually scrapping about something. I remember one time when we were down by the pond trying to reach for persimmons. We had reached all we could and I decided to jump up and grab a whole limb. But I didn't notice that Garvin was standing right under it and I brought that limb down with a sharp rap on his head...I still remember the fight that followed! Another vivid memory I have is that of carrying water from Wire Springs. I also remember gathering the wood. Once when I had wasted the whole day and was sent out late in the evening to get the wood, I tried to fool my mother into thinking I had a big load. I kinked my elbow up real tight so it looked like I was carrying an armload--but she knew better! I remember going out to get the cows...they could be a mile away in any direction. I can recall the magic of a smashed tobacco can, put on a stick, and used to push a hoop along a dusty road.
Irene: 1974
Don't know just how old I was when sister Lena operated on my hair. She really got right next to my scalp! Tried to hide me in the hen house until it could grow out, assuring me that mom would never miss me and that Lena, herself, would keep me well fed and watered. This worked for about an hour--until Mama got real thirsty. She thought nobody would run fast enough to get her a real "cold"drink of water from the spring, so she'd always say, "Rene, run and get me a cold drink of fresh water--you can get there and back while the others are thinking about it." This little pat on the back was all I needed --compliments were few and far between--so I
grabbed two zinc buckets and took off like a streak of greased lightning!
The Family BarnGus: 1959 (From the Family Book)
Franklin Kirby always had numerous livestock on the Government range between his farm and Boat mountain near Western Grove, Arkansas. Once a neighbor told him he had just seen three of the Gibbons boys round about twenty of his best three-year old steers and start driving them toward Harison, Arkansas. Franklin Kirby , his brother-in-law, Art P., and two friends, Troy M. and L.Jones, got into the car and went to head them off. They met them just east of the Johnsey farm. The Gibbons boys had no whips or dogs so were driving the cattle by shooting their pistols behind them. Art was driving the car. Their plan was that all except the driver would have a pistol in one hand with his other hand on the door handle of the car and when the car passed through the cattle and came to the Gibbons boys each man would jump out and grab a horse by the bridle and cover the rider with his pistol. The plan worked perfectly and each of the Gibbon boys was sent to the penitentary for two years. They were driving the cattle to Harrison, Arkansas for shipment to Kansas City, Missouri where they had already made arrangements to sell them.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Early morning September 6, 1929, a baby girl was born to Kirby and Hattie. My grandmother wanted to name me Thelma after her youngest daughter, and my sister, Inez wanted to name me Louise after her best friend. They decided to put them together and name me Thelma Louise. My younger brother, Joe and I were youngest of the family and were naturally given the easiest jobs to do, or so they told us. It was our duty to carry in the wood for cooking and for heating the house. We also carried water from the spring for household needs. The wood was cut by older brothers and sisters and was only about 100 ft from the house. Not bad, that little chore could be accomplished in nothing flat. But supplying the house with water was another story. The water was in a spring down the hill, one quarter of a mile away. That meant going down the hill with empty buckets and up the hill with full buckets. I must confess, Joe was a much better water boy than I was. He could be watching the sky, while whistling a tune and slinging both buckets of water over his head (never spilling a drop) all the way up that hill. I'd be 20 ft behind him, dragging my buckets as though they weighed 50 lbs each, sloshing water out with every step I took.
Joe was stronger than I was, but I had a better nose for danger, he never would listen to me when I'd tell him not to do things. That was the case when in the fall of 1934, he decided to put a stick in the fireplace, catch the end on fire, and go into the little bedroom to look for Christmas presents that Mama had hid under the bed. Mama was at the barn and I was in charge. I was in charge all right--in charge of watching Joe do what Joe wanted to do. He lit the stick. My advice was, "you better not do that." He ran through the house with the burning stick. My advice, "you better not do that." He stuck the burning stick under the bed. My advice, "you better not do that." WHAM! the flames shot out, Joe dropped the stick and ran. I grabbed the stick and ran screaming for Mama. She hurried to the house and carried the burning mattress outside. Papa came home. The bed was still smoldering in the yard, the room was a smoke mess and mama's hands and arms were burned.
Papa took Joe around behind the woodshed and gave him the same advice i'd given him. Only Papa's advice came from the end of a burning stick set afire by his fury.
Information and map are from Garland 8-22-83: #1 Western Grove. Where us 12 children went to school from 1927-1938.
#2A The Western Grove Consolidated School had one outdoor toilet for girls and
one for boys. The school had no running water. The only place we could
get a drink of water was about 100 yards down a very steep hill.
#2B The doctor that delivered the us kids-Doctor Guffery Gladden-lived
along here. ( I'm sure many of us are still not paid for)
#3 "New" cobblestone house of Frank & Nancy
#4 Ott & Nora M.'s place
#9 Our mailbox, alongside many others, was here.
#12 Road to Boat Mountain. The foot of Boat Mountain is about 2 miles
from the Family farm, and the summit is about 3 mi. from
the far. Us kids and their friends use to pack a lunch and climb
the mountain each Easter. There would be hundreds of people
picknicking on the flat top, and 99.999% of them walked up and down.
(We Arkies were walkers in them thar days.)
#14 House and barn on the family farm. Our grandparents
lived here until we moved here in 1927. Thema and Joe were born here.
We made our living farming. Each of us worke doing farm work.
Hattie worked harder than any of us. Her hard work never slacked up
muchless "got done." Her washing, ironing, mending, cooking, canning,
and taking care of us never ended. We could sit on the front porch at
night and hear foxes. Once they tried running goats on the place where
Zerk P. lived (#8).
#14A We skated our pond when the ice was thick enough. It had a few small
fish, several water snakes, and a few water moccasins, and many large
bullfrogs.
#16. The small house that use to be here was called "The Old Schoolhouse."
Gus was born in this house. Doc and Gracie lived here for a short while
just after they married.
#17. Hattie and her daughters would pick gobs and gobs of gooseberries &
blackberries. We would eat them as they were, cook them in cobblers,
and can many. Hattie always "put up (canned) at least 300 quarts of any
and everything she could can, so we would have something to eat during winter.
#20. Kirby's sister Mary lived here
#21. House and barn on the "Lower Place" Guffrey, Willie, Ruby, Lena,
Molly, Irene, Garland, Garvin, and Glen were born here.
#21A. When our grandfather Frank owned this farm, he sold it to his son,
Kirby when he married Hattie. The 80 acres were called the "Lower Place"
and the house and farm #14 called the "Upper Place"
#23. Hattie's parents, the grandparents of us kids lived here.
Uncle Joe and his wife Nellie. Two of their daughters, Mint and Dean
still lived there in 1983.
#24. Uncle Sherman lived here.
#25A Yardell Spring
Friday, July 25, 2008
Gus: John and Nancy lived on Boston Mountain between Boxley and Parthenon in N.W. Arkansas for seven years. They lived in a 20 ft x 20ft one room house...Their house was made of hued logs. Rough oak planks were laid down loose to form the floor. The chimney was made of clay and sticks with a final covering of pure clay. The house had no windows for light or ventilation. The walls were so open they couldn't paper them--the paper would blow off. Cats could crawl up between the hearth and floor. A tin can with a wick served as a lamp. grandmother Nancy would card and spin cotton to make the wick. The household furnishings consisted of: 1 three-quart stew kettle, 1 bed stead(no springs), a straw and a feather bedtick, 3 stool chairs, some 1-leg rest-railings cut into the walls, 1 quart skillet, 1 coffee pot, 6 plates, 6 cups and saucers, 6 knives, forks, and some spoons (no bowls). All cooking was done in the fireplace as they had not cook stove. Grandmother would card and sping all her sewing thread. She colored the thread with shoemake berries, boiled bark, etc. After washing and picking the trash from cotton she would card and spin and then knit it into cloth to make gloves, socks, sweaters, etc.
Irene: We girls were expected to do the milking of the many cows it took to supply milk for our Large family. I was the youngest( and least worldly-wise female until Louise came along many births later), so it came to my turn to learn to milk. There was a young heifer (with her first calf) to learn on! I was a little skinny wisp of a thing snuggling up to her udder when she looked at me and decided, "No way am I gonna let this little piece of humanity squeeze milk from me." She hooked her horns under my bottom and slung me out of her way, then sauntered off as if nothing had happened! Of course my older siblings thought that was hilariously funny. Anyway, I wasn't allowed to refuse future lessons, and became mama's choice to run to the barn for the half gallon of fresh milk she needed for making gravy every morning. To this day, I LOVE milk gravy.Irene: About the cow piles, we were all playing in the pasture and I had stepped in many a pile, when I felt a real crunchy one under my bare foot. I said, "well, I'm gonna do this one right " I twisted and twirled around on that one foot and when I stepped off, a Big Copperhead snake sprang up and away. The reason it was so crunchy was that it was all coiled up and ready to strike. That was just one of the many disasters we were subjected to while growing up. I have often wondered at the Lord's care for us during those years. I suspect that Mama counted us every night to see that we had all survived!
Joe: My mother had 14 children in less than 20 years and some of the older brothers and sisters said that every time my mother was going to have a baby, my father would take off on a trip of some kind. He was never there when she would have the babies. I understand from the older brothers and sisters that she had a hard time having the babies. I believe they said Dr. Gladden of Western Grove delivered every one of us babies. In fact, his son is in the practice in Harrison now. His is the new doctor in Harrison. (1986)Joe: Another story that Molly was telling me was that when I was 6 months old, I was only 10 lbs, and my mother didn't have enough milk. It was in the winter time when I was born and they couldn't get enough food down me. They said if it hadn't been for Lena, I would have probably died. But Lena took me up and carried me around and took care of me and tried to feed me. I told this to Lena at the 1986 reunion and she was thrilled to hear the story, and she said she use to love to take care of me and carry me around because when she would squeeze me and hold me I would hug her around the neck and she liked that very much.
After hearing this, Lena started talking about some of the things that she did when she was young. Lena said that Molly was a year younger than her and everyone was always bragging about Molly being pretty, and Molly this, and Molly that...and they would never say anything about Lena, even if she was standing next to Molly. Lena wished she could be pretty like Molly, she was always going up to the mirror and looking at herself to see if "she was pretty yet." So
this one time, her mother and dad were in the big truck loading al the kids up to go someplace. Lena ran back in the house to look in the mirror at herself to see if "she was pretty yet", and there was a molasses bucket right under the mirror that the kids use to stand on to see in. Lena stepped up on the bucket, and her foot fell right through into the molasses and got all over her shoe. When our father found out about this, we were going to the river and he told Lena that she was to keep that shoe on her foot all day long and wasn't to wash it in the river or anything as punishment. (7-15-1986)
back row : L-R Fannie , Laura
Middle: Hattie, Uncle Joe
Front: Nancy Hill(mother-in-law to Statiah, grandmother to Fannie), Statiah Elizabeth , Isham
baby is Aunt Fannies son Earl
Susan: Do you all know how special you are!! Your maternal grandfather, Isham, fought in the Civil War! I wonder how many people can claim such a thing. Not very many, I'm certain. It brings the history of the Civil War so close into focus for us. Grandpa fought in the Civil War, Confederate Company D, 2nd regiment, Ark. He enlisted 15 Oct. 1863 at Jasper, Ark, and was discharged 20 Aug. 1865. Wow, your grandfather fought in the Civil War! He died Feb. 1, 1915 which means that Gus, Inez and Willie would have gotten to know him and sit on his lap.
Hattie: Our Beautiful MotherLori: I asked Aunt Molly what her mama's favorite flowers were and she said, "she liked lilacs, yellow roses, and just about any outdoor flower that would grow among us kids."
A story from Molly: One day Hattie went to the store, during this time, money was very scarce. The woman working in the store asked Hattie if she had a name for the baby that she was carrying and Hattie said, no. The woman said if she named the baby Molly after her, she would give her some pretty cloth to make some dresses. Hattie named the baby Molly Belle.
Joe: My grandparents rock house in Western Grove is still standing and in pretty good condition. The people that live there now have been real nice and every four years, we stop there and look at the house and they have always invited us in and give us a complete tour of the house. (1986)
Irene: 1974
I must have been in about the 2nd or 3rd grade when we started to Western Grove School--then we got to ride the school bus. By that time grandma and grandpa had built their little cobblestone home near Western Grove and had moved into it, allowing us to move into their home on what was know as the "upper place."
Joe: I remember my dad with a lot of help, doing the same thing with hogs in front of our house. They would also squeeze sugar cane with a big bill that a mule would pull around too.Irene: It was my job to help Mama clean the fat off the intestines to be rendered into lard, which was the only type of shortening we had. This was stored in large containers and had to last until the next hog killing. Neighbors would help with the job for fresh meat as payment.
Louise and I had to carry water from the spring to our house. I remember our Horses, mules, and our wagon that had rubber tires on it. The mules would pull us to town in it. I remember walking to school across the fields, or the dirt road past my grandparents house. It was 3 miles one way. I was a happy kid!
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