My Whitehead Family

by

Billy Whitehead

The Story of a lifetime

Sometime in the early 1620’s in the area of Lancashire England is in somewhat of a social upheaval. Earlier, King James ordered a bible to be translated into the language of the common plowboy as was the thoughts of John Huss. There is much to be said of Martin Luther, the theologian who nailed his objections to some teachings of the Protestant Reform Church on the door of the church some 75 years before but was still the topic of unrest here in England as it is ending the sole authority of the church over many areas of society. There was talk of Henry Hudson, an English explorer who has visited and explored the Artic Ocean lands. Then there is a man named John Smith who has recently sailed for the New World. He is said to be going to a place called James Town, named for the King of England. It sounds so exciting that many young men are talking of going, but many simply talk. As for some it is not talk, instead it is listening and planning.

In 1620, only a few years earlier, the Mayflower had landed at Cape Cod on November 9, 1620 with 101 colonist. There were 41 who had signed a compact which was called the Mayflower Compact which established a form of government for the colonies which provided a majority rule form of government. Basically this agreement begins what has become a call to revolution.
While there are many newcomers who wish to be a part of this governmental movement, many are leaving England for the wealth of the New World and one who is born a young lad named Arthur Whitehead. He is to grow into a man who wishes to explore the new world, which is of interest to many of his acquaintances. That world across the oceans is said to be a land of abundance. When ships return from there in cold weather they are loaded with fruits never seen before. Many times there will be young plants, which are planted to see if they will grow in the English soil. Sometimes they will grow into fruitful plantings.

Most of the time the ship will be loaded with lumber for building homes for the wealthy. Then there is potash made in that land by burning oak trees then loading the ash onto the ship. Ages of building with no eye to the fact that trees will soon be depleted beyond supplying lumber for the building of homes has created great problems for the building crafters. The potash earns a pretty penny as potash is scarce in England as the trees are too valuable to burn for fertilizer.

When Arthur is about thirty years old he secures passage on a ship as a passenger for the English heading there to the place called America. There are ships leaving several times during the year but plans must be made to secure passage as well as a place on the ship. Generally food is promised but spoilage has been a constant problem therefore it seems wise to carry some preserved meat and other items that may be carried aboard a ship.

Arthur wonders how he will earn a living there in the New World. He believes that a wheelwright can find work but he also knows the trade of a cooper who makes the wooden barrels for storing and shipping goods. Both trades are needed industries. He feels comfortable that he can find a good paying work so he tries not to worry.

Arthur arrives in Jamestown but because there are so many new people there he cannot find work so he heads out to the Isle of Wight in the Virginia Colony. Arthur is familiar at various jobs soon finding steady work in a wheelwrights shop. In 1652 Arthur begins to plan for travel to the west. He has listened to others who have been to the western frontier but he does not wish to travel much beyond the mountains of western Carolina or maybe the land just beyond. However his plans make a sudden change in the summer of 1654 when he meets a young lass who is new to the community by the name of Katherine Ruffin. Sometime in the late summer of 1654 he and Katherine are married and they have a son who they named Arthur. They had hoped for another child but Katherine has had two miscarriages. In spite of all efforts they do not have other children to live beyond birth. They live in the same home in Virginia all their life and consider themselves blessed.

Their son carries on his father’s trade as a wheelwright and has his own shop with customers who wish to go into the growing frontier and to the farming region of the Georgia Colony where cotton is being grown, as is tobacco. The tobacco and cotton are great trade items and require a sturdy freight wagon, not so much for a heavy load but for the rigors of rough travel. Arthur has married Mary Goodman and in 1672 William is born. Arthur dies of dropsy fever suddenly in 1675 leaving William as the only child of Mary. They live sparsely but William thrives. As a young man he supports his mother until she marries her new husband. Here he finds work and soon marries his wife also named Mary. They soon have their first child, William, in 1685 while living in Isle of Wight. In all they raise five boys while in Virginia. Later they make their home in Edgecombe County North Carolina. William is followed by Lazarus, Robert, William, and Arthur. They call the second William, Will, in order to keep them separate. They think of the new idea of giving two names but do not wish to seem uppity.

By now it is clear that the New World of America is headed for war with the English Lords. Taxes are being set upon all trade. Tea has been taxed again as is other items of trade. England is attempting to make all work in the New World a money-making resource. Of course the colonist resent this and are rising up against it. Meetings are common within the colonies. Of course all talk must be behind the doors and care is taken as to who one talks to. The Whitehead boys feel that they will take part when the time is right but they must protect their families. They believe that they should move their family closer to the frontier in order that if need be they can move into the wilderness with ease believing that the English will not follow.

The older son of William and Mary marries Rachel Lewis around 1722 Jacob is born in 1723 in the colony of Virginia and is followed by another William, Joseph, Lazarus, Arthur and Tobias. Colony life is comfortable. There are celebrations of life but at the same time there are Indians who are trusted, to a point. There are rumors of attacks by Indians but for the most part these attacks are on what many call the frontier or at the edge of the settled areas.

As the children grow they become wise to the ways of life within the colony. As growing children they develop the skills as children do but then at about 11 they begin to mature. Chores are assigned by knowing parents. Milk the cow, care for the garden, and gather the firewood. All the family most help with the chores of home.

When Jacob is about fourteen he sits among the men to listen to the talk about them. The population is growing he hears, the last count shows that there are 475,000 however, it is pointed out that the count was 1720 and this is some eight years later. They talk of the need to move farther west. He hears of things going on beyond the colony of Virginia. There are settlements beyond the Carolinas and there are small settlements over in the Mississippi Territory. There is much game but more to the point there is land for the taking. Are there Indians? Of course there are those who are hostile but most are peaceful. There is the story of a massacre near one of the settlements near the Blue Ridge Mountain range to the west. Some of dead were children. Then there were stories of Indians who adopted settlers and were learning to live among these new people. They learned to plant and live as farmers who did not have to migrate with the seasons.

Jacob becomes interested as to how he might acquire a piece of farming land in this new territory. He decides to talk to his father about this idea. William explains that there are family members there at the foot of a small mountain range in the Mississippi territory. The community is called Whitehead although it is only a small settlement but one must remember that there is safety in numbers. It also seems that there has been no hostility among the Indians. The land is not far from a river. He said that there is talk of some waterfalls which may lend to the building of a factory for manufacturing. Perhaps one could build a sawmill near the falls. Jacob decided that this is where he will go however it may take him a year to get things in order. He was glad that he had worked with his father as a woodworker. He could make a wagon wheel and if needed he could build a whole wagon which was to be his first job as preparation for the journey. He liked the idea of building a waterwheel at one of the falls. Perhaps a gristmill would be first but maybe there was already one there.

Jacob found that the trip would be better in the spring to go by foot and boat but there may be a way along the high country along the blue mountain ridge. This was his decision. He would build a smaller wagon that he first thought as the cargo wagons do not travel well along the narrow mountain roads.

Jacob joins with a small company of travelers in late March after the grass begins to hint that spring is on the way. His goal is to reach the higher grounds before the spring rains bring the rivers and streams out. They head out in a northwestern direction however Jacob and a cousin decide to strike out for family in Edgecombe County North Carolina a distance of some distance they believe to be 100 miles of travel but he had time as it is yet spring.

As Jacob journeys he finds small jobs along the way at farms where he works for a meal here and there. He had thought of this when he broke with the group. As a group there is less chance of stopping for work or of others taking the group in when bad weather hits.

In early April they reach the settlement of Tarboro in North Carolina where they find some Whiteheads. After talk he decides that these are his folk and he thinks they are cousins but he also finds that some have moved on to the Mississippi Territory. Jacob finds that one of those who has moved on has the same idea as he. He was going to set up a waterwheel to grind corn and maybe a sawmill. The best part was that this town now did not have a blacksmith so he set up a shop in the building where his cousin had been. He had found his dream of having his own business with little invested. Actually he would have to buy out his cousins son but they were not very interested in the business, there was work to be done and they were not interested in work! They struck a deal whereby Jacob would pay $200.00 by this time next year. Jacob unloaded his wagon in the work shed. The living quarters was to one side but handy. It was clear that the house side was made for a family as there was evidence of a woman’s touch. Why shoot, this house has smooth wood floors. He has been in homes with floors of dirt along the way. Back home there were wood floors but they were not this smooth unless one was rich enough to hire a good woodworker. And Jacob was a good worker of wood!

The shop area was small but functional. There the trade of the former owner was evident. The blacksmith forage was not new but there were improvements showing a knowing craftsman. The wood-workmanship showed too as did the working area of the wheel shop.

When one makes a wheel his wood supply is stored in a dry location to allow proper drying. The wood is dressed to the proper size for spokes and rims or hubs. When these are properly shaped the mortises are cut. When all the fittings are properly cut and set the iron tire is shaped. The proper length is found with a rolling rule. The rolling rule is a wheel like tool with ruled measurements along the wheel. It is designed to measure around a round object such as an iron tire. After the tire is heated to a white heat it is set on an anvil and welded by striking the joint. This may require two or three heatings.

When he is satisfied that the weld is secure the tire is laid in a bed of hot coals. After the tire is cherry red, the wood wheel is assembled and laid out near the tire. The cherry red tire is dropped over the rim of the wheel. Amid the smoke and sizzle the tire cools. After a few seconds water is pored over the smoking tire. The cooling of the metal shrinks the iron making the wood wheel tight. Satisfied that the wheel is good Jacob stands it against the wall to await the return of the customer.

One evening after dinner Jacob is repairing a wagon axel when he notices a young lass across the dirt street. As he looks she shies away into a dry good store. Later he sees her and ask who she is. There are many new folk every day passing through on the way west. It turns out that this is no traveler but a family who lives five or six miles outside of town near Conetoe. They have come into town for groceries and some cloth as Susanne Neal’s mother has just had a new son. She needs a new dress so she is shopping for her mother.

Jacob decides to go over and introduce himself. There just might be a job one day from such an introduction. He watches for the lady to come along in the early evening and almost misses her. She has returned to the dry good store to pick up her package. She is in a carriage wagon. There is a seat and a short cargo area. He has seen many in Virginia and a couple here however most are the heavier wagons. This indicated to Jacob that this is a settled family so he is now more interested. He drops his tools, wets his hands and wipes his hair down. He hangs his work apron and heads across the street.

Susanne saw the man who she thought was a blacksmith when she first entered the dry good store. As she was inside the turned slightly to see if he were still looking, and he was. She ask the lady who worked here who he was. “Well, he has been here for two months and works hard.” “He’s going to do well because he does good work.” She then decided to return later in order to make some excuse to meet this young man. She had found that his name was Jacob Whitehead. The last Blacksmith who was here was a Whitehead and she believed that his name was named Lazarus Whitehead, or was that his brother?

As Susanne entered the store she saw Jacob hang his apron on a peg and head across the street. It had rained early that morning so the ground was damp and somewhat slick on the edges. She saw that Jacob had to go down the street to find a good crossing. She waited in the front of the store pretending to look at something. She did not want any tools but she stood until Jacob came inside. They talked some then Jacob ask her to go to the restaurant with him. Big Betty served a good river trout and turnips dinner and it was about time for the crowd.

The courtship lasted for three weeks with Jacob going visiting two times a week. Then on Saturday evening he rode out to visit. He ask her to marry him, she said she would and the next Sunday morning they were married. She eagerly joined him in Tarboro. The house was just right for them.

In a few years they decide to relocate to Robinson County where the family grows. Soon a family was on the way. First there was Benjamin then William, named for Jacob’s grandfather. Then there was Archibald.

As newcomers come into the area Jacob and Susanne decide to relocated again as Arthur’s work has slowed down because the travelers are not as many as once were, and Arthur has decided that his line of work is better when people travel He loads his family and heads with a goal to cross the Blue Ridge Mountains. Some call them the “Far Blue Mountains.“ His travels will stop in Wilkes County Georgia. There is need of Jacob’s craft so they set up shop here and does well. The family is here for the winter but things go well as work is good. It is here that Burrell, and Joseph are born.

As a group of travelers sit in a shop awaiting the replacement of wheels on their cargo wagon late one evening the talk turns to the problem of the English occupation force. There was a shooting in Boston where three citizens were killed as well as numerous injuries. A trial was held for the British Soldiers. They were defended by Adams and Adams, John and Josiah Adams. In time John Adams will be a well known President of America. Two soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter. They were branded and turned loose. They say that likely they will leave the country if they can make it to the docks.

Clearly the Colonies will be at war within a year so the talk is what the people of Carolinas, Virginia and Georgia will do when war is a reality. Will they commit a force to go stand with General Washington? Little do they know that this news is a little more than a year old and has been passed along to them. The basics are correct but what they do not know is that the reality is very near them.

On April 12, 1776 The North Carolina assembly is the first to empower its delegates in the Continental Congress to vote for independence from Britain. On June 28, 1776 South Carolina, American forces at Fort Moultrie successfully defend Charleston against a British naval attack and inflict heavy damage on the fleet.

A short time goes into several years due to the family growth but more because Jacob and Susanne are feeling their age. In time the boys begin to venture. Rebecca is recently married to George Stovall and is now living in Robinson County North Carolina. Joseph is seeing a girl of the Smith Family. He is talking about moving to a place called Tocca Falls where he believes he can get property. Joseph has befriended some Indians who are from this area.

This Smith girl is Anne Smith who was orphaned at a young age and raised by her sister. The sister’s husband was of the Nails family and he was a hard man. Perhaps he was resentful of having to earn a living for his family as well as his wife’s sister. As Anne grew she was required to work alongside the family slaves. In time she was addressed by the Nail name rather than her Smith as was the custom of the day.
Anne was attracted to the young Joseph Whitehead and she made arrangements to coyly make herself seen by the Whitehead man. She knew Joseph by sight as she had ask her friend at the restaurant where she sold eggs from time to time as she could hide a few here and there. She was saving to buy a dress that she had her eye on. Little did Anne know that the shy Joe was checking her out. He now knew that she was the sister rather than the daughter of the Nails woman but he also knew that the man was a hard man who had ran other young suitors off. One with a beating to carry with him. Joseph had done well in riverboat brawls but he did not wish to be seen as a ruffian by this girl.
When the two finally met near the general store one rainy day they stood in the doorway and talked for several minutes. He wanted to go with her to the restaurant for lunch, (he had learned the society ate lunch and not dinner,) so he made arrangements to meet her there tomorrow at “lunch.”

They did meet and spent an enjoyable time departing with plans to meet Sunday after church. The next day Joseph went to the waterfall to bathe early in the morning. He then rode to the church where he saw the Nails wagon was already there. As he went inside the singing had just started. Anne was sitting with two other girls who saw him and nudged Anne’s arm. She slid over slightly and Joseph sat down. After the preacher finished Joseph noticed a angry look from Mr. Nails. They walked out under the shade of the trees to talk. The girls stood by as a group talking all at once while Joseph and Anne talked. Dinner was spread around the lawn and afterward there was some more preaching and singing. Afterward Joseph approached Mr. Nails to ask if he could come over whereby Mr. Nails flatly told him to stay far away. He then ordered Anne into the wagon and headed off to their home.
Later in the week Joseph saw Anne and she told him of a beating Nails gave her. They then decided to elope which they did on Friday night. They were going to a nearby town where Joseph knew the Justice of the Piece who he had planned would married them. Little did he know that when he met Anne, there her sister was to help. She knew a nearby minister who she was going to ask to marry them. However, it was decided that a simple letter from her would be better as she would be missed if she went with them.

Joseph’s Indian friends had told him of high waterfalls deep in the land of the Cherokees. After they were married Joseph and Anne headed westward to their dream home. They followed Indian trails for many days living in the wilderness. Game was plentiful as was other foods for a knowing woodsman. However, Joseph was not a knowing woodsman but he knew enough to get by. After four days travel Joseph felt he was close. After meeting an Indian he spoke, in the Cherokee tongue, asking where the waterfalls called Tocca were. He was pointed to the direction and told to listen and go to the “voice of the water.” As the awaken on the second day after meeting their Indian, Joseph heard a distant rumble. He knew this was the falls. They headed into the sound finding the falls at noon. They found a way to the top of the falls but this was no place for a home due to the wind caused by the rushing of the falling water, however when they found a way over the other side there was a great place where they could see for miles over the top of the wilderness trees.

Joseph followed the suggestion of his Indian friends and found the chief of the Cherokees. He must have impressed the chief with his frankness to ask for land to build a home. Actually, what the chief did not tell Joseph was that his friends had sent a runner ahead of him to tell of the coming of a good strong man who had taken the wife from her harsh father. This told the chief that this white man had principals. Soon the couple had a home two miles above the falls which are called today Toccoa Falls. It is here that a family is raised.

Joseph’s brother, Archibald has heard of kin in the Mississippi Territory where his dad often speaks of. He decides to head out that way. However he decides to make his travel over the mountains. He travels to Lincoln County in a place called Tennessee. In time Archie met a young girl who caught his attention because her name was that of his brother, Joseph’s wife. She was Nancy Smith, daughter of William and Mary Smith. Archie thought that perhaps this just might be Smiths related to Joe’s wife. He knew Anne’s story so he wondered if this might be cousins of hers. He must remember to ask her. The year is 1807 when Archie and Nancy are married. They move into a house which was purchased some years earlier by William Smith for his daughter whom he adores. It is here that Joseph is born.

Due to Archie’s life in the wilderness, he does not see holding to a job as such a big deal. Actually Archie did not wish to be tied to one place. He figured that he and Nancy may find work wherever they were. He has lived well for himself all this time. However William Smith does not see it this way. He feels that Archibald Whitehead has taken on a family now and must settle down. This will be a point of friction in due time.

Archibald locates his kinfolk northwest of a town called Florence. From his dad’s talk of Whitehead, he had expected a town of some size. It was not as expected but there were several stores, a blacksmith shop and a horse stable run by a man named Whitehead. He was an older man and he never heard a first name. The older men simply called him “Whitehead” and the younger called him “Mr. Whitehead.”

The people are not ones who take to strangers and here this one comes with a family of three or four. What will he do for earning a living? He brings no farm tools. They are not too pleased to take on one who they do not know. He talks of kinfolk here but none know him. In due time they accept the family who settle among them. It turned out that he did have a cousin here. This new man was a good hunter who would wonder far from the settlement to take game, saving the game closer in for winter months when going far could be dangerous.

One day as all sat around the winter dinner table someone told of hearing of a lottery held in Georgia. One bit of news was that Archibald Whitehead had drawn a lottery winner. The winner was granted 202 ½ acres of land signed by Governor Troup. They were asking if Archibald knew of this which of course he did not know. Archie said that likely it was another Archibald’s who had fought in the revolutionary war against the British. It is possibly one of his brothers son or possibly another nephew. After all his brother had a son named Archibald who had married Mary Thomas. He believes they live there near Tocca Falls in Hall County Georgia.

Archie and Nancy live there in Lauderdale County Alabama for about 12 years. They move to Fayette County when Nancy’s father died and she inherited his house thou her father set the deed so that Archibald Whitehead has no control of the property and cannot inherit it.. The year was 1839. In time he builds a grist mill on Stud Horse Creek. It is in Fayette County that Archibald runs for sheriff. He serves for some years

It is now the year 1810 that Joshua Alexander Whitehead is born in Lauderdale County. It is also possible that there were twins born, Joshua and Joseph. Joshua is a strapping boy of independence and has his own ideas of life, after all he is his fathers son. He is venturous and prone to wondering the woods in hunt of game. Most is for the family table but some he will willingly sale. In 1815 Joshua walks to Winfield Alabama where he finds his sister, Ally. He stays with Ally for the winter then as the spring grass shows he begins to take overnight jaunts. One time he was gone for a week only to return to tell Ally that he is thinking about going to Texas. She explains that they live on the east side of the state somewhere near the cattle town of Fort Worth.

Sometime around 1820 Joshua decides to head out for Texas. There is talk of war with Mexico over the annexation of Mexican land into Texas but he is going to find family there in east Texas. He wishes he had a horse but the family needs every horse they have for the farm. So that Ally does not worry Josh leaves a note to let her know he is gone saying that as soon as he is settled he will write. Maybe he can join with a group for a distance however Joshua is somewhat like his great grandfather who preferred to travel alone. This allowed him to set his own pace. He can stop and work to earn wages or he may work for food while he rest. He crosses a great river on a ferry at a place called Memphis which is south of a larger town of Possum Town which will later be called Columbus Mississippi. He is not pleased with his distance as rain is becoming more common every week or so. The wagons which are used along these roads create a quagmire making walking difficult. The rising waters make crossing streams a hazard. He follows the better roads which are more or less southerly. He finds a road headed west and takes it, hitching a ride on a cargo wagon. This wagon stops at a town called Macon. There is a small group of stores along the river. Talk is of riverboats coming up occasionally however he has no money for a boat and anyway, the boats are going east, not west. He crosses the river called the Noxubee which he finds that in the language of the Choctaws means Stinking Waters because of a great battle fought there some years earlier. There were so many dead that they were thrown into the river to remove them down stream. However many were tangled in floating debris. On the other side of this river Joshua finds a wagon road headed more or less west. Some twenty miles and two days later having crosses one creek after the other he decides that the advice of the mule skinners is good advice, he is going to hold up for a few months until the creeks go down making travel much better. He has heard that there is a town called Louisville somewhere over this way so he heads for it. As he crosses two hills almost a mile from one top to the other he sees smoke in the near distance. Thinking that this is Louisville he heads for the smoke. When he finds the settlement he finds that this is Ellison Ridge and not Louisville. As he talks he finds that Mr. Avery has a farm and is in need of help so Joshua will work for him for as long as he is here. There is a room above the barn that is made for farm workers. It is warm and has a small heater for warmth. The window catches good air being higher than the other buildings. Two weeks later a young girl comes out to call for dinner. Josh ask who she is. She is Mr. Avery’s daughter who has been going to school in Louisville with and living family. Josh thinks this may be something he likes. Within two weeks Josh and Sara Avery are becoming close. They talk every chance they have and in time declare their plan to marry. In early 1825 Joshua Alexander Whitehead and Sarah Avery are married. They take a home nearby for their family. Nancy is born in late 1825. Having saved his earnings Josh finds property in southeast Winston County and south of Ellison Ridge. The community is called Claytown. In time there are eight children born of Sarah Avery Whitehead and Joshua. They are;

Nancy Avery born 1825 and marries William T. Ashmore

Mary Ellen Whitehead born January 7, 1838 who marries William Smith Whitehead a cousin from Lauderdale County Alabama.

Gracie Whitehead born 1841marries Sam Rosemond after his wife Annie Hatcher dies.

James Alexander Whitehead born 1842.

Samuel Rip Whitehead born September 20, 1873

Lucenda Catherine Whitehead, born 1849

Eta Linda Whitehead, born 1859

The State of Mississippi had raised numerous companies to defend Mississippi because of the Northern aggressors. By November 1860 the Southern states have seceded from the union and created the Confederate States of America with Jefferson Davis as president. War is on the horizon. James has kept up with the talk of joining. In early 1862 James travels to Louisville to look into joining up with one of the units being organized. He would like to join with a Calvary unit but finds that he must provide two horses in order to be considered. On the Whitehead farm there are only mules for farm work and he knows that two cannot be spared. He then joins with a rifle unit called the Winston Rifles Company D. The company travels by Mobile & Ohio Railroad to Macon where they join with the Noxubee Rifles. Eventually they are joined with a larger division as Company D, 35^th Regiment. They are sent to Corinth. The Confederates , under the command of P. G. T. Beuregard, pushed the Union aggressors back until the confederate defense fell in one place allowing the union under the command of General William S. Rosencrans to penetrate the Confederate line. James’ division retreated to Coffeeville where James and others were captured. He is taken to Alton Island Prison where he dies of Pneumonia on March 15, 1863.

On March 9, 1867 Joshua’s daughter Mary dies. He wishes to take her to the Ellison Ridge Cemetery but all is frozen and the cold will prevent travel for some time. Even after thawing there will be a while before the muddy roads are passable for a funeral. There has been talk of building a church with a graveyard but nothing has happened yet so he decides to put a cemetery close to his home. Just south of their home is a hill. He drives to the place with Mary in the back of the wagon in a pine coffin he and her husband William have made.

Sarah Avery Whitehead died on May 9, 1871. She is buried in the Whitehead cemetery. In 1873 Joshua marries widow Sarah Duran. They have no children and she dies two years later. Joshua buried her in the cemetery where some of her family are. Today this is the Robinson Cemetery. There is no marker on her grave and the cemetery is abandoned.
On March 11, 1976 Joshua marries Mary Kemp who is the daughter of Henry and Harriett Kemp. Mary is only 21 years old but they are happy. Soon another child is on the way.

Docia Whitehead is born on January 9, 1877

Charlie W. Whitehead born June 27, 1885

Crumbie born October 7. 1883

Gone Fishing

Billy Whitehead

Joe Whitehead is my dad and I can tell you that he loved nothing better than to be out hunting or fishing. He always had dogs and other equipment related to hunting or fishing. His dogs were well cared for and each named with a personal name for that dog.

I was never sure if he loved the challenge of the hunt or fishing trip or if it was the successful hunt of bagged game or a line full of fish all for the table. Then maybe it was both.

After dad sold the farm in 1950 we moved to the delta town of Glenn Allen on the bank of Lake Washington. We lived about ½ mile north of town. The house was across the blacktop road from the lake. I would walk to school and back. Dad kept several hundred set-hooks in the water at any given time. He would check one group in the morning and the other in the evening freezing the catch in two freezers. On Friday he would load a freezer in his truck then head out to Louisville or Macon to peddle his catch. One time he hired a helper named Sammy Orange. He and Sammy had sold every fish he had except for a bunch of Gar. No-one wanted to fool with Gar. Likely they did not want to fool with them because they were long and had awful teeth. Dad decided to dress them and try again. They went to the Foot Road south of town and skinned all the fish. When they stopped there was much interest in dressed fish. Several were standing around talking about the dressed fish when someone ask, “What kind fish is them?” To which Sammy quickly detecting a good sale said, “Them is Speckled Trout!” They sold every single fish in that one stop.

One morning there arrived three men from Louisville asking if dad had any crappie. Dad told them that he likely had some across the lake in a fish trap. They talked him into going across the lake in their boat. He reluctantly agreed as the water was rather calm. They were about 1/4^th across when a small wave splashed into the boat. One man panicked and jumped out of the boat yelling that “We are sinking!” As he jumped another went in after him because he could not swim. Both men drowned. Dad often said that he should have held out for his larger boat.

One time he asked me if I had been fishing lately. I told him that I had not had time lately as I had been busy with a night job. He very quickly said that when it comes to fishing you have to make the time.

While working for the Borden Coffee Factory the plant acquired the lease of a 20 acre lake for the use of the employees. All employees and their immediate family were allowed to fish in the lake at no cost to them. The employees cleaned around the bank and built a launching area for boats. There was a large picnic table and a brick barbecue pit.

There were not many weeks that Joe was not at the lake. His favorite was bream. He would not throw a bass back but he was out for the bream. Many times he would bring home ten to twenty hand size bream, clean them and fry them up for supper. Bait? He would use whatever was at hand but crickets or earth worms were always at hand. When Catawba worms in season he would pack them in cornmeal then freeze them. The cornmeal kept them from sticking together. I have seem him catch large roaches for bate but he did not care for them. They were simply handy.

Dad had a wood boat at the lake which he preferred to the aluminum boats because the wood boats were much quieter. He used a three foot paddle and he usually sat at the end. He could navigate the boat into a possible fish bed without disturbing the fish. He knew every place where one might catch a fish. If there were a child with him he would place the child in perfect position to catch one. Most of the time he would see a fish in the water and tell the child, “put your hook right there,” pointing to the place.

Dad often fished the Noxubee River. He would keep about 100 set-hooks and ten or twelve “throw lines.” The set hooks were tied to a limb from a boat. The throw lines were tied to a larger branch or to a root.

A throw line is a line of 100 to 200 feet with a hook every three feet or so. Later there were limits to the length and number of hooks as well there had to be a short length of cotton line. This was a safety consideration to allow the line to break if abandoned in the water.

Needless to say, there was a basket somewhere along the way.

Dad’s basket was made of 1X2 mesh wire, 5 feet tall. He would cut a section 12 feet long. Two ends were turned together then clamped with hog rings however he would rather use small copper wire to lace the ends together. One end was compressed together and clamped together leaving a section of 18 inches which was laced for accessing to remove the fish. On the other end he made a funnel shape by trimming a rough triangle. This was laced into the open end. This end was placed downstream. For bait he liked to go to Leland Oil Mill over in the delta town of Leland, Mississippi, for cottonseed cake. He would break off a piece about the size of two hands. This was tied to the upstream end and thrown out into the river tied to the bank by a piece of telephone wire. This wire was rubber coated an when placed into the dark water it looked like a small root.

One evening about dusk, when I was about 12, dad ask me to go with him. We waked to the railroad and crossed the river over the railroad trestle. We then walked about ½ mile upstream where he eased down the wet bank and reached under the water and pulled the line. He told me, “we got a catch.” He pulled the basket out of the water. Inside there were likely 150 fish. He selected fish as large as his arm and threw the others back. He then cut two saplings about two inches around and about five or six feet long. On these branches he strung the fish. We shouldered the ends on our shoulders and headed back to the house with about 100 channel-cat fish. We skinned the fish and froze them.

In 1978 dad and a friend went to the river to check a basket. They floated down to a location where a basket was anchored in midstream. They threw out a grab and pulled it in. Just as they hefted it into the basket someone on the south bank spoke, “I caught you!” They dropped the basket into the water and left. Later they heard that this man had called the Game Warden. They checked but never sound the basket as the man had told them the wrong location. Dad never forgot that and slowed down his basket fishing.

Was it legal to use the baskets? No it was not and he knew it. He began using baskets to feed his family. I believe that the game wardens knew this as it was known by so many. In fact, one of the wardens had fished with him before he became a warden.

I cannot ever remember dad wasting any game he caught or killed. He might give some to others but he never was wasteful. Dad was one who took care of his own. Yet he took time to do for others. I do not remember one time that he did not help when one ask.

Daddy delited in his grandkids. He would sit in the floor to play with them but to take them fishin, he was in his greatest form.

The Final Journey Home

y

by

Billy Whitehead

Crombie Whitehead was the seventh child of Joshua Alexander Whitehead of Winston County Mississippi. The third wife of Joshua Whitehead, Mary Kemp had three children are; Docie, Crombie and Charlie. Crombie was married to Willie Patterson, daughter of William J. Patterson and Jane Reed. The children of Crombie and Willie were;

1 Eva Mae Whitehead, 1908 - 2002

2 William Joshua (Pete) Whitehead, 1910-1974

3 Earl Brewer Whitehead,1912-1972

4 Herman Everett Whitehead,1914-1987

5 Charles Henry (Jack) Whitehead,1916-1963

6 Mary Jane Whitehead, 1918-1988

7 Crombie Winfred, 1920- 2006

8 Margaret Whitehead, 1923

9 Mildred Gundene Whitehead, 1927-1933

10 Margie Whitehead, 1927-1933

11 George Truitt Whitehead,1929-2002

12 Susie Whitehead,1932-1999

Yes, there are two who are living, or at least I know there is one who is living today. Maggie (Margaret Massengill) is living but there is one child who has not been seen in many years.

When I first remember the family there was Mae, Truitt, Earl and Winfred in the 1960‘s. My dad Joe Weaver Whitehead would drive over to simply sit and talk with them. He would usually get to their home close to noon so he could eat dinner with them in order that he could talk with all at one time.

The four lived together for their lifetime. The men were in the house for two reasons, to sleep and to eat. Otherwise they were out working the farm or if it was raining they were in their “office.” Mae was the mistress of the house. She prepared the meals and tended to household chores.

Now, the “Office” was here or their when I remember it. At first it was a small building off from the other farm buildings. Then I went over and the office was a rather new building and a little more roomy. The last time I was there to talk with Winfred the office was back in the first place. It was a drafty room lighted by the daylight entering through cracks. If the weather was just right there was a tractor shed to sit under.

Farm life at the Whitehead farm was raising food crops. There was always cane for the making of syrup. Dad always came home with a can of syrup. They made sure dad had a gallon can of syrup. Sometimes they would send me a quart.

Then there was watermelons. The melons were peddled over Winston, Kemper and Noxubee Counties.

They would sell corn, melons, syrup and other crops. First there was preserving food by canning or freezing or maybe stored in corn shocks.

I think the first thing I remember about them was that they always had time for talk. Whenever we went over, the work stopped. If dinner was on the table, all sat down and ate dinner then the guys went out to the office. There was ladder back chairs, wood kegs and maybe an old rocker to sit in. A small cast iron stove was there in the middle of the room standing in a dirtbox. Wood was stacked on one wall and on another was a small desk. On the desk there was a record book which recorded the activities and funds brought in, owed or made. Yes, it really was an office! ! On the walls were horse shoes, wrenches, a broken hammer awaiting a proper limb to make a handle from. There was a time when they went to the Western Auto in Louisville to buy a fan on credit. I do not know the time of the loan but they sold different items to raise the payment. When it was time, they gathered up the funds and drove to Louisville to pay that fan off. A debt was something not taken lightly by these boys.

During this sit and talk time, any subject was good for talk or a laugh. If it was election time, yep, they could talk politics, especially Winston county politics. They knew whatever was happening over the neighborhood.

I believe that the whole country around the Whitehead farm would stop in to talk about what was happening or to learn what was happening because these guys know what’s happening. Likely, more than one message was left for another who would drop by in a while.

If you show up at the office there might be Gary or Jessie sitting there with one of them. Gary Whitehead and Jessie Whitehead are sons of Ben and Lillie Whitehead who lived nearby. Ben was a nephew to Earl, Winfred, Truitt and Mae.

All were never married and were salt of the earth people. They were family folk. I never remember one of them smoking, chewing or drinking. Or maybe they kept it well hidden.

When I went to Winfred’s funeral I and others were surprised to learn that he was in the army air corp. and served as an aircraft mechanic in the Pacific campaign. There is also a certificate showing that he repaired Charles Limburg’s plane. The island was a point where the Enola Gay was to take off for the bombing run over Japan in August 1945.

It has often been said that Crombie and Charlie made a pact to name their sons for one another and themselves. This is seen in Crombie and Charlie’s family. Ben is named Charles Benford Whitehead and dad is Joe Weaver, Crombie being named Crombie W. then it is possible that his name was Crombie Weaver. So far no signature is found other than Crombie W. Winfred did tell me that Crombie was named Crombie Weaver.

Charlie died early in life on January 14,1921 leaving Ira Belle Womble Whitehead with two young children and one to be born on March 10, 1921.

There are many family members there in the Whitehead Family Cemetery began when Joshua Whiteheads daughter died and he could not get to the Ellison Ridge Cemetery. He chose the highest place on his property to bury her. Thereafter it was a resting place for other family members.

FARM LIFE

by

Billy Whitehead

As a kid in 1949-1950 there were many things of adventure around a small farm in Winston County Mississippi. There were the trips across the pasture with dad to check to see where the milk cow had dropped her calf. A walk through the corn field to see if roasting ears were ready or later to see when the corn would be ready to pull. Then there was the trip to see how many boll weevils were in the cotton.

When boll weevils were found the remedy was dusting. Dad hitched a mule to a machine with two iron wheels which had a chain running to a blower. The blower was connected to two large containers and some octopus like arms running behind a seat. Dad put cotton poison into the containers then headed down the row followed by a great cloud. He had a wet bandana over his nose. At the end he would turn around and head back through the cloud. At the end of that row he would wipe the mule’s nose. After several turnarounds the poor mule could hardly walk so he had to take him to the barn and get the other.

One evening dad told mom that the county engineer would be there tomorrow morning. The next morning two or three men came with a telescopelike rig on three legs and poles. They set up in the field and drove stakes. By the end of the day there were several crooked lines in the fields. The next day dad began disking and plowing along the lines. As it turned out, he had build terraces to stop erosion of his soil.

When spring came dad was ready to put his crops in. In a trade he had a two row cultivator. There were two iron wheels, and a long wood beam for hitching two mules with a set of plows behind it with two long handles. Only this was not dad’s plan. He borrowed a Ford 8N tractor from Carlos Miles as well as Carlos’ two row cultivator. Dad rigged a long beam between the two cultivators and hitched the rig to the tractor. After a couple rounds to adjust he was off, plowing four rows at the time. Carlos saw him and was standing at the end of one round. “When you get through I want that rig too.”

Killing Hogs

Then there was the cold evening that dad spent digging several holes near the pigpen. 55 gallon drums were fitted into the holes at a slope. He hauled firewood, setting up wash pots, building a large table of planks. Drawing water to fill the wash pots. What was happening? Later there was a gathering of local men who were planning to be here early in the morning.

Dad was up before daylight to light the fire around the wash pot. Soon there were trucks coming into the front yard. They gathered around the pigpen with Sport, dad’s German Sheppard. “Sick him Sport!” With a jump Sport had a hog by the ear. With a stick the hog was down and dragged out of the pen.

After some basic prep the pig was put into the drum and hot water pored over the hog. This softened the hair so that it could be scraped. Soon there were four or five hogs laid out on the table and the butchering began. Somewhere near or after noon a tenderloin was carried to the kitchen for Rose to cook. Dinner was biscuits with redeye gravy peas and tenderloin steaks and gallons of ice tea or buttermilk. By early evening there were hams here, ribs there, shoulders over there. AND; Ready to pull chitterlings in a washtub over there. The hams had to be made ready for the smokehouse as were other cuts of meats.

The smokehouse had been built earlier away from the corn crib. I thought it was my playhouse but now dad had other things in mind. By the next morning I found that it was a smokehouse with meat hanging from the ceiling.

Late in the evening the meat was put away in the freezer or in the smoke house or in a salt box. Every man who had helped got a pig that he had brought. For some reason I was sent to the house and the men gathered by one of the trucks to get a drink of “water.” Then the trucks left down the lane. Sometime after sundown dad came in for supper then he was off to bed having fed his livestock.

That smokehouse was later turned into a storage house with a metal lock on it. One day mom went to the house for sauerkraut. There was a five gallon churn that she opened. “Boy, that stuff is gone bad “ or so I thought. She took a pot full to the house and the next day we ate it with peas and mashed potato. Good eating but where did the bad stuff go?, I wondered.

The Two Walters

In the Claytown community there were two Walter Whiteheads. These two Walters were known as Good Walter and Mean Walter. Good Walter was the sixth son of Samuel Rip Whitehead who was the fifth child of Joshua and Sarah Whitehead. Walter Anderson Whitehead, born March, 1, 1885 lived on what is now Highway 397 and not very far from the Whitehead Cemetery. This Walter was a quite family man well liked over the community.

I never knew who the other Walter Whitehead was but I often heard of him. There was a field road running from Highway 490, through a field of Junior Robinson and finally running right by our house. However, as I said this was a field road but knowing folk would take a shortcut by using this road. Junior closed his end of the road so dad, needing a stock watering pen built a fence across the road. This fence allowed his stock to get to the pond, otherwise he had to lead them to water every day.

Early one morning before daylight there was a commotion around the barn. Dad got up, picked up his shotgun and headed out to see what was up. There tangled in the brand new fence was two mules, a wagon and Walter Whitehead, dead drunk, trying to make the mules take him home as it was a little late.

One thing I remember of this farm life is that it was a slower pace than it is today. If there was a chore needing more than one could do all he needed to do was call upon a neighbor. If a need was at hand they local people would come together to give a hand. Seems that this is not the case today. It seems that the answer today is to call the government to buy us out or maybe worse, borrow so we can buy a new fangled maching to do the work for us. Neighbors may not even know who their neighbor is today for several months.

Maybe we have lost more than the farm today.

The Life and Times of Joe Whitehead

by

William Edward "Billy" Whitehead

There was a man who lived in the Whitehead community of north Alabama near Florence and Rogersville, Alabama. This man was Joshua Whitehead, son of Archibald and Nancy Whitehead. At the age of about 15 Joshua traveled to Winfield Alabama. Whether because of family there or of the rumor of war in Texas perhaps his feet began to itch and walking was the only relief for that itch, and that maybe he had no horse no other transportation so he set off to the west likely headed to Texas. It is said that he hung a note on his sisters door, “Gone to Texas.” When he reached Winston County Mississippi in the Ellison Ridge Community his travel was stopped due to flooded creeks. Joshua decided to stay until water receded. He hired himself out to James Avery for the time he would be there. A problem came up with his travel in that Mr. Avery’s daughter caught his eye. He married her and in time he set up a farm in the Claytown community where he raised his family of which there were children of Sara, his first wife and Mary Kemp, his third wife one of which was Charles Weaver Whitehead.

Charlie Weds

Charlie was to marry Ira Bell Womble. They had three children, Charlie Benford, Lottie Bell and Joe Weaver. Charlie and his brother, Crombie are said to have made a pact to name their son’s after themselves, hence, Charles Benford and Joe Weaver.

These three children were somewhat jokesters as were their parents. There is the story of Ben throwing a rock at Lottie while she was in the hayloft in order to keep her from coming down. As a result she came down from the hayloft with a broken nose.

Charlie was a farm worker. In 1921, while working for Jimmie T. Ingram he became sick. He went to Dr. Klem Kirk. Dr. Kirk told him that he had appendicitis and would have to operate. Now, Charlie remembered that this procedure was a new idea and many people had died from the cure. Charlie decided to chance the illness rather than the operation. He died on January 14, 1921. He was buried in the Whitehead Cemetery in the Claytown Community of Winston County.
The Whitehead Cemetery was started when Joshua’s daughter died. He could not get to the Ellison Ridge Cemetery so he chose the highest ground on his property and buried her there. There is a great number of the Whitehead Family there. Joshua’s grave is there marked with some sandstones and a later headstone. Charlie lies near his mother, Mary Kemp Whitehead, Joshua’s last wife.

In March after Charlie’s death Joe Weaver Whitehead was born.

Ira Bell married Vester Stokes around 1925 when Joe was five years old.

There is the story of how she once dressed up like an old man who wondered the country. Some of her daughters sat on the roadside playing and talking. They saw this image coming toward them. Thinking of the old man they sat there watching. When she was close she screamed at them, scaring them then she started laughing at her joke.

Joe’s Childhood

About Joe’s teen years he took to hunting at night. Of course the game was Raccoon and Opossum as well as some other game, fair game or not as this game was food for the table. His Saturday night hunts were all-nighters; coming in at mid Sunday morning, he usually had dinner ready when the others came home from church. One particular Sunday the preacher came home with them for Sunday Dinner which, was ready and piping hot. As the meal was consumed comments went around praising the delicious roast. Someone finally asked what was it, pork? Now, all the family knew that no hog had been killed recently and this was obviously fresh meat and, “Joe has been coon hunting last night!!” However it was too late into the meal as most of the meat had been eaten.

Joe wondered the hills of the Claytown community and surrounding forest hunting and becoming known as hunter and fisherman to all, although he would readily admit that Ben could out-fish him anytime. He said many times that Ben could fish a well knowing full-well that there was not one fish in it.

Once as a young boy he was sitting at the table with the family with the preacher who had come home for dinner. The preacher kept asking for biscuits. The plate of biscuits happened to be near Joe threw two to the preacher and said, “There, stay at home a while.”

As youngsters in rural Mississippi in the 1930’s work on the farm was the usual day but in the evening one found something to do. One evening Lottie, Ben and Joe went to a movie that someone had set up in a tent. After the movie was over they walked to the closer one of the group’s home then to the next. Vardie Stokes was sweet on Aunt Lottie so he was walking close to her, hand in hand close. Ben told dad that he was going to pull a trick on Vardie at the Middleton Cemetery so he was to hold back a little bit and he headed off ahead of the group. When they were close enough to the cemetery dad ask Vardie if he would walk through that cemetery. Of course Vardie could not say no so he agreed to do it.

There was a four strand wire gate from the road into the cemetery. When right in front of the gate Vardie took three steps and jumped over the gate, ONLY, , , as he was half over the gate, Ben stood up from a gravestone with the white tee shirt pulled over his head! !

Sometime in early 1944 Joe went to see his girlfriend’s father, Ervin Kent. He found him in the field and told Mr. Kent that he wanted to marry Gladys. Gladys spoke up and told her dad that she was going to marry Joe so Mr. Kent agreed to the marriage. They went to the home of Mr. J. D. Fulton and were married on February 24, 1944.

On July 24, 1945 I was born followed by another brother, Willie Hugh named for Willie Vester Stokes and Hugh Ponder, then there was Ethel Marie, named for Mom’s best friend and dad’s sister, Dorrotha Dean named for Wilma Dean, dad’s sister. Then there is Anna Jean, named for Aunt Annie but spelled by a d - - n Yankee from Indianapolis. Then along came Martha Lorie, named for aunt Marion Lorie then Myra Nell named for mom’s sister in law.

Army Life

Joe went into the army at Camp Shelby then to Fort Benning, Georgia where he trained for the Bazooka. Before going to Fort Benning he told his sister, Lottie, of his plan to let them know where

He would be sent from there as he expected to be sent to the European theater of war.

Someone received a strange letter that made no sense. As she told about the letter, which asked about Uncle John’s cow, which no one knew of, Lottie asked to see the letter. She wrote down every fifth letter across the page, which spelled out Germany to which she announced, “Joe is going to Germany”.

He wanted to see the family before shipping out to Germany. A soldier was allowed 150 miles for a three day pass and of course Fort Benning was much more than 150 miles but the leave was granted with the warning, “Be back Monday morning.” On Friday evening he began his travel to Mississippi. He was stopped by a military police somewhere along the way. The MP commented that he was somewhat outside the allowed travel to go to Louisville Mississippi. Joe simply told the MP that he had orders to go to Germany. The sympathetic MP told him to be careful and be back Monday morning. He made it home, spent the night and left Sunday for Fort Benning, arriving just in time for roll call.

Upon arriving by ship off the coast of Normandy they waited some time for their assigned task at what became known as the Battle of the Bulge.” Upon landing the biggest of the fighting was over. An Officer came out one day and asked for someone with a military drivers license. Joe had one! He stepped forward and drove the Captain over the battlefields of Northern France to see that things were cleaned up and in order. Later he was the driver for a Major from Louisville.

There was a picture of Joe as he manned a water-cooled machine gun as he stood watch at a bridge over the Rhine River. At some point he was with a unit that went into a cave to route out a German suspected to be the German officer whose last name was Gobale but as it turned out the man was a German spy who was wanted by the US army. He received a commendation metal for that action.

Once he was in the “chow line” for breakfast. For this meal it was not unusual for the men to wear shower shoes. In a nearby line he saw a man with a split big toe. Once while splitting wood, Ben had missed the wood with the ax and hit his toe splitting it down the middle. He crossed to the line and met his brother who he had not known was there in the same post.

Home from the Army Life

I’m not sure who told this story but Aunt Lottie said that it happened. Joe wanted to go to work on the riverboat. He bought a bicycle from the Western Auto store in Louisville and headed out for Greenville. His instructions were to cross the bridge at the edge of town then stop at the first house with a cow in the yard. He rode into Greenville and stopped at the first house with a cow in the yard. He thought there should be a fence around the yard for a cow but here was the cow in front of a house. No one answered the door so he lay down on the porch and went to sleep. Some time later he was awakened by a policeman and a woman who wanted to know who he was. Aunt Lottie heard a commotion outside and went to the door to see what was going on next door. You see, the cow had gotten out and went next door where there was more grass. Joe spent the night then rode his bike down to the river where he hid the bike under the Washington Bridge then caught the riverboat. He worked on this boat for three months. Upon his return he went to Lottie’s. All there encouraged him to go get his bicycle. He thought that would be a waste of time because someone had likely found it during the three months. Finally he went to see if it was there, and it was. He rode it back too Lottie’s home only to get up the next morning to find that someone had stolen it. He always said that it was crazy for it to lay under that bridge for three months and no one get it then someone steals it from the front of the house.

Farmer Joe

After his discharge there was a payment of $600 or $800 upon discharge. Joe had bought a farm and needed tools. He met a man who had decided to cut his losses. He had loaded his tools in a wagon and headed to Louisville to sell them. When Joe met him and asked where he was headed. The man told him he was going to sell the tools and Joe made an offer. The man made an attempt to get more but Joe asked if he thought he would get more in Louisville as there were others selling too. The man said, “D---n you Joe you know I won’t get more.” He got the tools, which were two plows, a planter, a single row fertilizer distributor and a box of hand tools as well as the wagon and mules.

Joe’s farm was behind Carlos and Mr. Davis Miles on an abandoned road from Highway 490 and the Nanih Waiya mound road.

As I remember the house was a wood frame house with two bedrooms, one that was the entry room with a kitchen to the right back door. At first there were no electric lights but somewhere along the way Dad got lights put in. He always told that mom stood on a chair and tried to blow the light out. Many years later that was cleared up and as it turned out “HE” was the one who tried to blow the light out.

There was a barn to the left side with a well out back and an outdoor toilet to the other.

In the fenced lot around the barn dad kept a horse and sometimes a cow, which he had just bought. The cow was kept for a few days to get use to the new place. One day Willie decided for whatever reason to go into the barn lot. When he was about half way across the lot he saw the cow. It was then that he remembered that mom and dad had told us that this cow was bad. He turned and ran for the fence with the cow at his heels. As he fell under the fence the cow was close enough to push him under the fence. He never had to be told twice to stay away from the barn again.

Once dad had some goats that he raised to sell. When they were fat enough to sell he took them to the sale barn in Louisville. The price was down and he worried about getting enough for them. A friend was there who recognized the goats. When the goats came into the ring this friend stood and shouted, “I know them goats. Joe Whitehead raised them on feed and cotton-seed hulls.” They brought top price.

Going Fishing

One day Ben came visiting. As they say around talking and just killing time Ben said, “Joe, let’s go get Log Lake.” Dad had a sack of cotton poison as well as four croaker sacks. The poison was divided into the four sacks the two waded into the water dipping the poison filled sacks. Very soon the fish floated to the top of the water. The two carried as many fish as possible home but neither forgot the dastardly deed. Both often talked of the waste and how the lake had no fish for many years afterward. In 1989 Ben said that fish were now being caught but he did not say how long they had been back in the lake. Even then he felt bad at having caused the lake to die.

Dad raised cotton and corn as I remember. The cotton was sold and corn was, as I remember, was used to feed the cows, pigs and mules.

Once he looked at the cotton field and projected three bails. Mom said there would be five bails. He said that he would split anything over three bails with her. There were five bails. With her part she bought a Singer treadle type sewing machine, and a foldaway bed. I think one of my sisters still has that sewing machine.

Dad told the story about how I went with him to deliver cotton to the gin. He left me at Mr. Tilton Parks store which sat at the intersection of highway 397 and 490, while he waited for the gin to unload him. Mr. Parks forgot I was there. When dad came back to get me they found me in the back room, breaking eggs together. Mr. Parks refused pay for the eggs because he forgot to watch out for me.

Dad bought me a horse who I called Trigger. Someone had trained the horse to lie down so that I could get in the saddle. I remember bouncing up and down when the horse trotted. I felt like Roy Rogers when I rode Trigger.

Around 1950I started to school at the Calhoun School. My teacher was Mrs. Peterson. There was a long table around which all the class sat on a bench along each side. The teacher was at the head of the table. I faced the window. I remember watching a whirlwind that made a dust cloud like a small tornado. There were about ten or twelve of us kids around this table. We needed no second time instructions to behave because we knew who the boss was in Mrs. Peterson’s class. Later after we returned from Indiana two or three years later, Mrs. Peterson was my third grade teacher.

Gone to Hoosier Country

About 1950, dad sold the farm and went to Indianapolis Indiana to work in the Borden’s Milk Factory where they made vaporized milk with the silver cow on the label. Aunt Annie and Uncle John Cavender were already there where Aunt Annie worked for Western Electric making telephone sets.

The first winter I reached out the window and pulled off an icicle about a foot long which mom did not think was so great. It was here that Anna Jean was born. I walked to school, which was about four blocks. During one winter we played between our apartment and another. Sometimes we would play with a large box by getting inside and roll. I suppose we were like a tractor tracks rolling up and down some steps.

Later we moved to a smaller town called Tittleton, which was near the Indianapolis airport. This was a community of row houses converted from a military barracks. The next winter there was snow piled up on the wall to the eave of the house. That year we used a coal-fired heater. The coal was stored in a bin in front of the house. My job was to keep coal in a box near the heater.

Across the street was a retired couple that had the only TV set around. They would let us sit and watch Howdy Doody. I also liked watching the washing machine. It was a front loader, which I had never seen. It looked a lot like the TV set and I tried to figure what kept the water inside because it was up on the glass front. No matter, I thought that was something else.

I went to grammar school in Indianapolis. On the first day dad and I sat in the principals office to sign up for school. While there some boys were brought in for some reason, which I know not. He opened a drawer, which I remember has some pistols in it. I think they were confiscated from students. There was no summer break up there as we have here in Mississippi. Every Monday we carried newspaper to school for recycling. I think each class got money for their paper collected, which was accounted to that class.

One thing I remember very well was when the teacher ask us to write what we had done the past summer. I wrote that my father had built a fence (in Mississippi). I had helped him by “toting” the post to him. This teacher told me that one does not “tote” a post. I told her that I did too. I never got that teacher to understand that I did tote the post.

Back Home To Dixie

Dad said that one day the foreman, Mr. Parker told Dad that he was transferring to Macon Mississippi. Dad told him that he could not go without him. Mr. Parker said he would see what he could do. In a few weeks the transfer for dad came through. Dad bought an Oldsmobile car from Uncle John Cavender. It had an old tag but he headed out for Mississippi. He said that the motor support broke somewhere along the way, I think Tennessee. He found some fence wire along side the highway and stopped for a piece to tie the motor down so that they could make it home.

We moved to a house in Prairie Point. Later we moved into town to a house on North Street. The house was an apartment owned by Mr. G. E. Fraley. The family of Blue Eaves lived on the other side. We moved several times in the next ten years or so but every time we moved back into that same house on one side or the other and even one time we rented the whole house.

This house was a big house with plenty of rooms. The house was about two feet off the ground on the east side and about six feet off the ground on the west side. During the hot summer days we would play under the house where it was cooler. Sometimes we found volcano-like dirt piles. We would poke small sticks into the dirt pile and say, “doodle bug, doodle bug come on up.” Sometimes there would be a small bug appear in the dirt.

Dad worked for the Kraft Cheese factory until his job opened in the coffee factory. When he worked at the coffee plant, there we always had instant coffee. Sometimes he worked until 11:00 at night. After he got off he and Fred Moore would go coon hunting. Fred was a mechanic at Murray’s Chevrolet. Dad would call from the coffee plant to let Fred know that he was off. Once he called and Fred’s wife answered but dad had hung up. She knew who it was and when she saw him the next day she let him have it.

Dad got laid off and later the plant closed. He moved to Sturgis to work in Grandpa Kent’s saw mill. We lived between Sturgis and the Kent house. We had water from a spring under the hill in the woods behind the house. Once Sam, mom’s brother, came over to play cards. Late that night he headed for home along the road. He would not go through the woods so he went around the road which was about 15 minutes longer.

Dad and Clyde cut through the woods to the main road. They hung a sheet on a limb and lit a lantern just as Sam came near. Dad had made a dumb-bull. A dumb-bull was a wood keg with a deer hide stretched and dried to make it tight which became a drum. A hole was made in the middle and a cotton string placed in the hole. Pine resin was used between the fingers to pull the string, which caused the drum to make a sound like a bull or animal bellowing. When they pulled the bull Sam stopped and tried to sic Pluto, his dog, on whatever that was. The trouble was, Pluto was as scared as Sam was. Sam crossed the fence and walked around a house then back to the road promising to come back with a gun. After he left Clyde and dad took all and hurried back home with a big laugh on Sam the next day. Of course Sam said “I knew it was yall all the time.”

There was a time when Dad was laid off. In order to keep food on the table, dad hunted and fished. When needed he would hunt deer at night, which was illegal but he felt that he had to do what he had to do. I never knew him to throw a kill away.

One Friday evening mom’s sister and family came over for the night. Uncle Delyn HAtcher and dad had planned a “night hunt” to get a deer for Saturday. Two others came over so there would one man per window. Dad had set the right headlight hard right. It would shine the field in front and right of the car. They did not have any luck until they were headed back toward home. As they drove there was much talking so they had not realized where they were. Suddenly there were two or three sets of eyes. Someone shot and the deer fell. Jumping out two ran and grabbed the legs just as lights came on around them. They ran to the road - - - - right into a three stranded barbed wire fence! ! Uncle Delyn went head over heels, over the fence and down a six foot bank hitting the bottom of the road ditch head first.

There was a time when Dad worked for the Mississippi State Highway Department. One day he stopped by Levi Hailey’s house to see what the gathering was about. Levi worked for the Game and Fish Commission and there were several game wardens gathered around a truck. In the truck were three of dad’s fish baskets. He knew these were his because he had started using discarded telephone drop wire to anchor the basket to the bank of the river because it looked like a small root. He spoke of the baskets as being illegal to which Mr. Tate White said “Yes, and we will get yours one day because I know that yours are tarred with highway tar.” He never used tar but he used many other disguises to hide his work.

Once he played a joke on Bobby White. Dad made a life size dummy from old pants, shirt and shoes by sewing them together and stuffing it with odds and ends. He placed the dummy on the toilet at the highway crew shop. Now remember that there was a hobo who traveled north in the spring and south in the fall. Bobby was always coming in a few minutes late and heading for the restroom. Redd Reed was the foreman and knew what was up. When Bobby came in Redd said, “Bobby hurry up you have to go to Newton right away.” Bobby said ok and went in the rest room closing the door but running out immediately and excited. He said, “Red, that d…m hobo in there sitting on the on the toilet!”

As it was, there was a man who hitch-hiked to a VA Center in the north during the summer then headed to one in Biloxi Mississippi during the winter.

Perhaps this happened at the same time and maybe not. Once dad put a rubber snake around the steering wheel of a dump truck. Bobby got in the truck and headed out the gate, in a hurry again. As he was between the gateposts he hit the brakes sliding the wheels, and jumped out yelling “JOE COME HERE!”

Dad always had a garden and sometimes he had more than a garden, in fact at one time he had a field about three miles south of Macon. When the vegetables were ready he hitched a wagon with a mule and went to harvest the peas, beans, Watermelons and corn.
The house we lived in had a hall across the west end. There was a kitchen on one side and another on the other side of that hall. The peas and beans were spread out in the hall to keep from souring until we shelled them, and we shelled for a while after school and on the weekends. As we shelled mom and dad canned in fruit jars with a pressure cooker.

Many times they left for work before we got up from bed. We were expected to turn the stove off before we left for school. When one of them got home from work the vegetable filled jars were stored in a closet. I never remember being in want of good food as a result of all this work.

As I have said, Dad was an avid hunter. Mom kept house and had a tendency to move and re-arrange the furniture. After a long night hunting, dad came in well after midnight. He tiptoed to the bed, removed his clothes and dropped to “the bed” or where it was last night!

Once Luther Williams, Slim Ledbetter and dad went hunting at the Allen Bend. Late into the night the dogs were not doing well so they began calling the dogs in. Dad smoked Prince Albert roll your owns and he would kneel and hold his light under his arms and roll a cigarette. Slim and Luther called a few times then Slim decided to shoot a 22 caliber Ruger automatic pistol to make the dogs come in. He had cotton gloves on. As he raised the pistol it went off hitting dad in the head and knocking him out. Of course there was a lot of blood. Luther and Slim picked him up and headed for the truck. Dad came too and told them that they were headed the wrong way. They told him he was not clear because they would be there in a few minutes. He finally got them to go to the river, which was very near, to see which way it was flowing. They saw that he was correct but he had already headed out by himself. They got Dr. Gill up from bed to go the office to sew him up. The bullet had creased the scull along the top just along the scalp.

When dad got home mom ask where they were so long. He told her that he was shot and had been at the doctor’s office. Of course this excited her and she jumped up because she realized at the same time that she smelled medicine.

Slim sold the pistol and would not even talk about the incident for years.

Home at Last

On February 24, 1975 dad went to feed his dogs, which he kept across the railroad on the road to the old city landfill. He became sick and knew that he was having a heart attack. He drove himself to Dr. Gill’s office. He was in Noxubee General Hospital for several days than transferred to the Doster Hospital, in Columbus. He finally was entered into the Veterans Hospital in Jackson. After several months he returned home. He followed the doctor’s orders for his diet and exercise. Finally he said that he had to do a garden in spite of the doctor’s opinion that he should not. He paced himself and did well.

He continued to hunt and fish and loved to spend time with his grandkids, sometimes teaching them to fish. He would go on his walks and might spend time with a friend, just talking.

On November 2 1982 dad wanted to go to Glen Allen to visit his Robert, his half brother who had cancer. After an enjoyable evening he went to Greenville to stay over night with Iva Nell. Sometime after midnight he died of a possible stroke. Iva Nell called me to tell me of what happened. I rode with E. C. Patterson to bring mom home. He was buried beside his mother in the Vernon Assembly of God Cemetery in Winston County.

Dad loved to gather his family around him to talk, cook and eat. A good laugh always came from him. If there were not one he would crack a joke. Perhaps when playing dominos or rook, he would give himself points then “get” caught, just to have a laugh.

On a personal note; I started a garden the following March. I had the garden tilled and ready to plant. I started walking toward the house to check with dad about something. As I walked out the door it suddenly hit me that he was not there and would not return to that house.