The following transcription is from a series of recordings my father made in the early 1990s:
Sometime around the end of 1911 or early 1912, Grandpa and Grandma Steele moved out to Childress, Texas near Grandpa's sister, Lydia Steele Greer . My mother and her sister, Lucille “Dick”, were their only children at the
time. They didn’t stay in Texas but
about six months.
When they moved back to Sicily Island, Grandpa Steele built
a house out on the old Steele place. Grandpa Steele planted over 100
pecan trees on the old Steele farm.
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Steele House on the old Steele place |
The big two-story school had been built right out there beside the Steele place. Mr. Howard Wright, Mr. and Mrs. J. K. Stone and Mr. Jesse Beasley boarded with my grandparents on the old Steele place.
Mr. Charles Mackey was the first principal at
the two-story school. After he left, Mr.
J. K. Stone was the principal. When Mr.
Stone moved up to be the superintendent of the parish, Mr. Howard Wright became
the principal. In 1917, Howard Wright
moved up to be the parish superintendent.
I’ve heard my mother and my Aunt Dick talking about Mr.
Jesse Beasley, Mr. and Mrs. Stone and Mr. Howard Wright boarding with them when
they lived on the old Steele place.
The two-story school was right there next door to Grandpa
and Grandma Steele’s house. Sisters Emily and Blanche Wilson and Anita Bondurant stayed with them during the week
because they lived so far up towards the Peck Station that it was too far to
travel to school every day.
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Two-story School House near Steele Place
Courtesy of Gladys Nelson |
My Aunt Dick remembered Anita Bondurant sleeping with her
when she stayed with them. She was
several years younger than my Aunt Dick.
Anita later married an Oliphant who died just a few years after they
were married. She is still living and is in the nursing home up at Harrisonburg.
My oldest son, who was the great grandson of Grandpa and
Grandma Steele, married Mr. Jesse Beasley’s great niece. Mr. Charles Mackey’s wife was a sister to Mr.
Jesse Beasley. Isn't it something how the circle comes back around?
At one period of time, Charles Mackey and his wife Lee Etta
Beasley lived in the old Steele house here in town where I lived until it
burned in August of 1990. I believe they
were living here along about 1912.
Several different families lived in the Steele house in town
at one time or another in earlier years.
This was because Grandpa Steele liked to move back and forth from town
to their house on the farm.
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Old Steele house in town |
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Old Steele house in town |
Note: Parts 1-66 of 'The Stories That Should Be Told' can be found in the Tags List on the right-hand side of the blog.
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