Childhood Remembrances of Flora Crawford Eschenburg, Part 5

The following transcript is from the childhood remembrances of Flora Kathryn Crawford Eschenburg who was the daughter of Samuel Cooke Crawford and Rachel Victoria Seal.

Part Five - Entertainment

One might think that with all the things people had to do to make a living in those days, there was no time for fun.  That was not true.  I can assure you that we had many good times.  I have written about some of the fun things we did.

On Sunday, we would pile on the wagon and go to church.  We had a buggy, but that wouldn't hold the whole family.  It was used mostly for trips to town and Mama used it for visiting friends. It was customary for us to go to church at night.  Everyone would take lanterns along to light the way on the return trip home.  

Quite often we had church dinners called "dinners on the grounds".  Everyone brought baskets of prepared food and spread dinner on the ground.  Everyone sat around on blankets and helped themselves.  Lemonade was the usual drink, and we had all the water we needed.

When the crop work was finished and plants were left alone to grow, we'd load the wagon with camping equipment and several families would join together for a camping trip.  We would go to a place on the river called The Rocks and camp for as much as three days at a time.  We enjoyed fishing, swimming, tale telling, and just relaxing.  

The Rocks - 2011

We usually took a boat along and made good use of it.  We caught fish and fried them in a frying pan set on the campfire.  This campfire was used for cooking and for lighting the campsite. Of course we took mosquito bars along to protect us from mosquitoes at night.  All homes used mosquito bars since there were no window screens until the 1920s.

Papa and the boys enjoyed coon hunts and squirrel and deer hunting.

Another thing young boys in the community enjoyed doing was snitching eggs from hens' nests and planning an egg boiling.  Usually eggs were sold for a little "pen" money, or traded at the grocery store.  The boys would sneak them a few at a time until Saturday night when they would take them into the woods and boil them.  

Sometimes they would also include a chicken to be roasted over the campfire.  As late as 1928-34, the schools took eggs in payment for entry into the ball games.

We loved to go crawfishing in the small stream that ran near our house.  We used a piece of fat meat on a string to lure the crawfish.  When they grabbed the bait, we grabbed the crawfish.

We had candy makings, watermelon cuttings, peanut boilings, fish fries, and ice cream making. Our friends were invited and often walked two or three miles to get to the party.  The older boys and girls had regular parties during which they played such games as Shoot the Buffalo, Skip to My Loo, and Drop the Handkerchief.  There was also square dancing.

We had horses to ride.  I especially remember a smaller horse we had that we called Charlie, and a red one with a white face that we called Lady.  We rode two or three on a horse at a time when we were small.  Someone would lead the horse as we rode.  We rode alone as we grew older and more able to handle the horse.

We thought milking a cow was fun as long as we did it only when we wanted warm milk squeezed directly into our mouths.  When we got big enough to have milking as a chore, it ceased to be fun and became work.

We loved playing under the house where it was cool.

Box suppers were popular, especially at school and church fund raising affairs.  The girls would decorate their boxes to the best of their ability, cook their favorite foods, and pack enough food for two people.  The boys would bid on the boxes.  The identity of the person who prepared the box was kept secret, but often the boys would try to find out who had packed which box. Then they would bid on the box packed by their girlfriend or by a girl they wanted to court.

Many times we'd go on picnics at St. Mary's Fall, Big Creek, or Norris Springs.  Norris Springs was our favorite spot.  It was a lovely, clear spring flowing from a hillside.  We loved to slide down the steep hill on pieces of cardboard, boards, pieces of tin, or about anything we could find that would keep us from blistering our seats as we came sailing down the hill.  We also spent time on the hill and in the creek searching for rattle rocks.

Norris Springs - 2011

Natural Spring Water - Norris Springs - 2011

Often as we sat around the fireplace on winter evenings, we ate parched peanuts, chewed sugar can or ate popcorn.  Papa would entertain us with ghost stories, or tales of his early childhood. Often he would play the fiddle for us if his fingers weren't too stiff.

Some evenings a friend with a guitar or a Jew's Harp would drop over and it would be a joy to sit on the floor around them and listen to their music.  Later our oldest brother learned to play a violin.  Our dad played such tunes as the Arkansas Traveler, Turkey in the Straw, and Buck-eyed Rabbit.  These tunes were the ones he had danced to when he was a young man.  Our brother, however, liked to play more sophisticated music such as Lieberstraum and The Blue Danube Waltz.

Until we moved to the Gillis House, we rode to school by wagon or we walked.  This was not as bad as it sounds, but the distance required that we got up quite early in the morning.  The wagon was covered and we had fun along the way.  Sometimes we would get off the wagon to pick flowers.  Then we'd have to run to catch up.  We'd have sing-a-longs and once in a while a good argument or even a fight or two.  But these didn't last long, and we were all friends the next day. Later we rode on the first school bus.  

When we were older, it was a thrill to get to sit by our favorite boyfriend or girlfriend.  We took our lunches in buckets and would gather our friends at lunchtime to share food and eat.  We had a Jewish friend named Peachy Saltzman who loved to trade her goose liver sandwich for our pork sausage.

Finally, silent movies came to our little town and would be shown at the school auditorium. Anyone could go if they had 15 cents to get in.  I well remember my father going with us to see his first movie.  I think it was a western called "Riders of the Purple Sage".  How he did enjoy it! It was not until about 1928-30 that a movie house was built in Wisner, the nearest town.

Sports were the big thing in school.  We loved the track meets and basketball tournaments.  I was on the First Team and enjoyed getting out of school on Friday evening to play teams at nearby schools.  Some schools were not so near and we were often late getting home.

On graduation night the big treat was wearing a white dress, the finest your parents could afford, and your "invited" flower girls showered you with flowers at the foot of the stage.  Caps and gowns were not in fashion until after I graduated in 1930.

I look back on my growing up years with a great deal of pleasure.  Many changes have taken place since those days that were supposed to make life easier, and they have in many ways. However, I often wonder if those changes have made us happier or better people.  With all the busy times back then, it seemed to be busy-ness with a purpose.  

Today we seem to be very, very busy, but are we sure of where we are heading?  Is it true that when we had to travel to church in wagons and buggies that more people attended church?  Or that children appreciated more of the things they got for Christmas, even if it might be very little?  Or that children appreciated school more when they had to supply their own books and writing materials and carry their own lunches?  Are we willing to help our neighbors and do we enjoy helping those in need?

During my childhood, we didn't have to worry about leaving the windows open, the doors unlocked or the keys in the car.

During my lifetime, I have seen travel progress from horse and buggy and wagon, to train, car and airplane.  I have even sat by my television and watched men and women travel into space.  I have seen communication progress from slates to pencil and paper, pen and ink, typewriters, and computers.  It makes one wonder what is coming next.

In reality, I guess I am just getting old, looking back to the "old days" and getting sentimental. But I hope this provides my grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and any others who read this an insight into what life was like during my youth.

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Special thanks to Joan McLemore for allowing me to share her Aunt Flora's childhood remembrances.  Joan is the daughter of Flora's older sister, Dell Crawford Meadows.

Note:  Parts 1-4 of 'Childhood Remembrances of Flora Crawford Eschenburg' can be found in the Tags List on the right side of the blog, under the tag titled Crawford Family.

Childhood Memories of Flora Crawford Eschenburg, Part 4

The following transcript is from the childhood remembrances of Flora Kathryn Crawford Eschenburg who was the daughter of Samuel Cooke Crawford and Rachel Victoria Seal.

Part Four - Weather Signs, Medicine and Superstitions

Weather Signs

With our new radio, we could not receive weather reports daily as we do today so we relied a great deal on weather signs handed down from generation to generation.

• If it thunders in February, it will frost in April on that same date.

• If cattle huddle together or seem restless, this is a sign of a change in the weather.

• If animals grow thick hair, it is a sign of a bad winter ahead.

• If it frosts three consecutive days, it will then rain.

• If it rained while the sun was shining, the saying was, "The devil is beating his wife."

• If the horns of a quarter moon turned downward, this signifies a wet moon and the water will pour.

• A ring around the moon enclosing stars within the ring tells that it will rain within that many days.

• If the sun sets behind a bank of clouds, it means rain.

• If a rooster crows before midnight, it's a sign of bad weather.

• The first twelve days after Christmas represent the twelve months of the year and one can predict what kind of weather to expect each month.

Medicine

For people who lived in the country, it was not easy to get a doctor when needed.  People relied a lot on home remedies.  Some that I remember are:

• For croup, use mullen tea.  Mullen was a plant that grew wild.

• Catnip teas were given for various ailments.

• Mustard poultices made from crushed mustard seed were place on the chest for any deep congestion and especially for pneumonia.

• Poke salad was eaten in the spring to bring good health.

• Sassafras tea made by boiling the roots of a sassafras bush was a good spring tonic.  Sugar was added to enhance the taste.

• Sugar and turpentine were given for coughing.

• Woolen underwear or long johns must be worn until May 1st or you might be exposed to illness.

• When hot packs needed to be applied, a bag of hot cornmeal mush, or hot salt, was used.  Hot water bottles were not available then.

• Asafedeti [Asafetida] worn around the neck helped fend off germs.

• Pneumonia was quite prevalent and when one was weak from the results and needed a quick "pick-up" they were sometimes served hot hog-foot tea.  This was made from boiling the hog feet and drinking the water.  Now we know that this provides an easily digested form of protein.  Today our gelatin is made from this source.

Superstitions

• I have already mentioned that Papa didn't like starting anything on Friday unless he was sure that he could finish the job.

• Some people believed that if a screech owl screeched near their home it meant a death in that home within the year.

• Some believed that if you planted a weeping willow tree in your yard someone in your family would die within a year.

• Black cats were always bad luck.  If one crossed your path, you'd better turn around and go back the way you came, find another path, or make the sign of the cross and spit to break the spell.

• Some believed if they dreamed of the dead it would rain.

• A lightening bug in the house was a bad omen.

• Starting someplace and having to go back before reaching your destination was a bad omen.

To Be Continued...

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Special thanks to Joan McLemore for allowing me to share her Aunt Flora's childhood remembrances.  Joan is the daughter of Flora's older sister, Dell Crawford Meadows.

Note:  Parts 1-3 of 'Childhood Remembrances of Flora Crawford Eschenburg' can be found in the Tags List on the right side of the blog, under the tag titled Crawford Family.

Childhood Remembrances of Flora Crawford Eschenburg, Part 3

The following transcript is from the childhood remembrances of Flora Kathryn Crawford Eschenburg who was the daughter of Samuel Cooke Crawford and Rachel Victoria Seal.

Part Three - Customs

Almost every farmer raised his own food.  We had chickens and eggs.  The hogs provided ham and bacon as well as sausage and lard.  The cows provided the milk, butter and beef.  

In the garden, we raised sweet potatoes, peanuts, watermelons, and cantaloupes.  We raised sugar cane and had a syrup mill with which Papa made syrup for our family and for the community.

The mill was turned by mules pulling the pole that caused the inside grinders to turn.  Men stood outside poking stalks of cane that had been stripped of the fodder into the grinder.  A spout directed the juice into a vat.  There was a large sectioned pan into which the juice was poured. This pan was over a furnace that heated the juice to a boiling stage, producing syrup.

It was such great fun to get to go to the cane mill after school.  Papa would let us bring friends home with us and give them a drink of cane juice.  This was a great treat for us and for our friends.

Mama made lye hominy from corn.  This was another great treat.  It tasted differently from the hominy bought in cans today.  She also made lye soap, using ashes and lye and some other ingredients, most of which I can't remember.

Hog killing day was a big event in our lives.  Usually two or three neighbors came to help us and five or six hogs were dressed out in one day.  The meat was salted down for a few days and smoked with hickory wood for preservation and for good flavor.  The intestines were cleaned and used for sausage casings and, of course, for chittlins.  Some of the meat was ground and seasoned to stuff in the casings.  This was smoked for the most delectable sausage ever tasted. Our dad had a talent for seasoning things just right.  Souse (or hoghead cheese) was made from the hogs' heads which we boiled.  We also pickled the pigs' feet.

We did buy a few things like coffee, sugar and flour.  However, the coffee was bought green, then roasted and ground at home.  We made our own corn meal from the corn we raised and ground at the grist mills.

For light, we used coal oil lamps fueled with kerosene.  In 1924, our family bought and installed a dynamo system that gave us our electricity.  We were among the very first, and few, that had such a system to light the house.  What a luxury those electric lights were.  This system also made it possible for us to have a pump to pump water into a tank.  We got our first real bathtub with running water.

When a man built a house, the chimney was often made of clay and straw with sticks forming the structural supports.  We had a brick chimney at our home, but when my brother Bud married, he and Papa built a small house and made the chimney from mud and moss which they shaped over a wooden frame.

When new ground needed to be cleared, it meant cutting all the trees and brush so that the land could be used for farming.  The farmer would have a "Log Rolling".  All the neighbors would come, bringing their whole family.  The men joined in the cutting of the trees and brush while the women cooked the meal.  Most of the women brought food already prepared.  A large table was spread outside and we enjoyed a neighborhood feast.  Of course, there were errands for the younger ones to do, like taking water and coffee to the workmen.  It was an enjoyable day, as well as a work day.

Everyone made their mattresses and quilts and often their feather beds.  I remember having to pick the down from the geese to make feather beds, and there was nothing like sleeping on a feather bed in the winter.  When quilting time came, the women gave quiltings at different homes until everyone had their quilts finished.  

One thing that stands out in my memory is that people helped each other whenever and whatever the need.  If anyone was sick, it was not unusual for the women to go "sit up" with the sick person, sometimes staying all day or all night if needed. 

My school teacher in the sixth and seventh grade was Georgia Westbrook [Peniston].  She liked to tell us what things were like when she was growing up.  She said her father made caskets for those who couldn't afford to buy ready-made ones.  To make the casket, a pine or cypress board was shaped to be more narrow at each end than in the middle.  Then, to make the side pieces curve to fit this, the boards were placed in boiling water to make them pliable.  Then the sides were nailed to the bottom board.  The top board that sealed the casket was the same shape as the bottom board.  I remember seeing homemade caskets in our community.  I think our father made one for a neighbor.

At Christmas, we would find and cut our own tree and gather holly.  We always hung our stockings by a chimney.  However, children did not get the lavish things they get today.  We usually got an apple, an orange, some nuts and candy.  The girls usually got a doll, although sometimes they were rag dolls made by our mothers.  The boys often got fireworks.  Very few toys were received, but I think this served to make us more inventive.

We made our own playthings, often with spools, corn cobs, shucks, and scrap lumber.  However, at Christmas, all the treats were appreciated because they were not always available at other times of the year.

Telephones came to Sicily Island around 1918.  There were two in town.  One was at the Chambers Boarding House and the other was at Steele's store.  

Chambers

Former Steele store

We got our first car around 1925.  About 1928, we got our first radio, but not everyone could listen at the same time because it had only earphones instead of a loud speaker.

 To Be Continued...

**********

Special thanks to Joan McLemore for allowing me to share her Aunt Flora's childhood remembrances.  Joan is the daughter of Flora's older sister, Dell Crawford Meadows.

Note:  Parts 1-2 of 'Childhood Remembrances of Flora Crawford Eschenburg' can be found in the Tags List on the right side of the blog, under the tag titled Crawford Family.

Childhood Remembrances of Flora Crawford Eschenburg, Part 2

The following transcript is from the childhood remembrances of Flora Kathryn Crawford Eschenburg who was the daughter of Samuel Cooke Crawford and Rachel Victoria Seal.

Part Two - Chores

Our childhood was spent in a day before electricity had reached farm homes, so there were no time saving or work saving devices.  There were no radios or televisions.  We were kept busy working at the necessary chores.  

We were required to keep the water buckets filled from the well, and much later from a hand pump.  We drew the water from the well using a windlass, or sometimes a rope and pulley.  The windlass was usually made from a round block of wood fitted with an iron handle.  A rope or chain was fastened to the long slender well bucket at one end and the windlass at the other.  To let the bucket down into the water and pull it up again, the handle was turned.  Sometimes one might lose his handhold on the windlass, and the handle would fly around.

Once my brother, Bud, accidentally let go of the handle and it came round and hit him with such force that he was knocked unconscious.  The rope and pulley were harder to pull.  The rope threaded over the pulley so that instead of pulling up on the rope to raise the bucket, we could pull down, adding the force of our own weight to make the chore easier.

Drinking water was kept in a bucket on the water shelf on the porch.  This was a cedar bucket with brass rings.  Our job was to keep the brass shined.  Once a week, using ashes as a scrubbing compound and a corn cob as a scrub brush, we shined the brass to a high polish.  Water was drunk from a common dipper and in most homes this dipper was made from a dried gourd.

Another chore assigned to the children was to keep an ample supply of wood for the wood stove in the kitchen and for the eleven fireplaces.  In the fall of the year, Papa and our brothers cut trees and split enough wood for the year.  This had to be racked so that it was ready for us to bring in as needed.

Baths were taken from a wash tub.  We were able to take a full bath about once a week, but we took daily baths from a wash pan which was kept on the water shelf.  Everyone was expected to wash their face and hands three times a day before coming to the dining table.  Hands and faces were dried with a common towel.  In summer, we went barefoot until we were eleven or twelve years old, or old enough to be ashamed to show our feet.  Each night, before going to bed, we had to wash our feet in a foot tub.

To prepare for wash day, we had to draw up barrels of water.  The clothes were scrubbed on a corrugated rub-board.  They then were boiled in a big black iron pot with water and lye soap.  The really heavy, dirty work clothes were beat with a stick on a block of wood called the battling block.  

Starch was made by boiling flour and water.  Almost everything had to be starched, including dresses, petticoats, shirts, pants and pillowcases.  Then came the ironing day.  The ironing was done with black flatirons heated from a fire in the fireplace.  Sometimes in the summer, when it was so very hot, the fire used to heat the irons was built outside.  

As you can imagine, ironing days in summer were quite unpleasant.  An iron was usually kept on the cook stove for a quick pressing job.  The cook stove had a reservoir which held water and had to be kept full at all times.  This gave us a ready supply of warm water for washing dishes, and even for a quick "sponge" bath.

The wooden floors of our home were kept clean using a scrubbing block.  This block was made from a piece of 2x8 board and was about fifteen inches long.  Holes were made in the block and stuffed with corn shucks.  The shucks were first made pliable by soaking them in warm water and were then stuffed into the holes.  When they were dry, the fit was quite tight.  There was a handle much like a mop handle and the brush was pushed across the floors.  We usually cleaned the floors on wash day so that we could used the hot soapy water left from boiling the clothes and the rinse water left from the last of the three rinses.

Brooms for sweeping the house were usually made from broom sage.  In the fall, when the broom sage was at just the right stage, a year's supply of this straw was gathered, tied in bundles and stored.  Brooms were also used to sweep clean the yard around the house.  There were no lawn mowers, so brooms made of brushy limbs were used to scrape the yard area.  This acted to keep fire from coming too close to the house in the event a grass fire broke out. Dogwood limbs and switch cane made good brooms to use for this.

If you were a farmer in Catahoula Parish in those days it was understood that you raised cotton and corn.  Every member of the family who was big enough was expected to join the farm work which included hoeing weeds from the rows and picking cotton.  Young boys had the job of pulling corn from the plants when it was time for harvest.

Papa rived boards to roof the house and barns.  For this, he used a fro and mallet.  The children helped by bringing the blocks of wood and stacking the riven boards.  He also whittled the axe handles from hickory wood.  This was mostly done at night as he sat around the fireplace, or on rainy days when he couldn't do outside work.  After the handles were whittled, they were polished to a smooth finish.

Other chores assigned to children included milking cows, feeding the pigs, feeding the chickens, gathering eggs, and churning cream into butter.  What a chore churning could be, especially at times when one wanted to be up and away.  It seemed terrible to have to sit and lift that dasher endlessly.  Splash, splash, splash.  We would devise many ways of making the time go faster.

One rhyme that comes to mind was:

Come butter come,

Come butter come,

Peter's waiting at the gate,

Waiting for a hot butter cake,

Come butter come.

We made our own cottage cheese.  We let milk clabber, or sour, then we broke up the curds, pouring warm water over them and placing them in a thin cloth to drip until only the curds were left.  This cottage cheese was eaten with sugar and cream and was quite tasty.

 To Be Continued...

**********

Special thanks to Joan McLemore for allowing me to share her Aunt Flora's childhood remembrances.  Joan is the daughter of Flora's older sister, Dell Crawford Meadows.

Note:  Part 1 of 'Childhood Remembrances of Flora Crawford Eschenburg' can be found in the Tags List on the right side of the blog, under the tag titled Crawford Family.

Childhood Remembrances of Flora Crawford Eschenburg, Part 1

The following transcript is from the childhood remembrances of Flora Kathryn Crawford Eschenburg who was the daughter of Samuel Cooke Crawford and Rachel Victoria Seal.

Part One - Mississippi to Louisiana

I was born near Wesson, Mississippi, on December 13, 1912.  I was the ninth child, and three more were to follow.  The house in which I was born was a nice house for its day.  It had a porch across the front and a big hall in the center.

My sister Dot was the baby, number ten in line.  I recall the wicker buggy that we all took turns pushing.  John and Addie Bell sometimes argued over who was going to be the one to push the buggy next.

Our mother was always a beautiful Christian and was interested in the church and Christian friends.  One such friend was called Sister Morgan and was a self-proclaimed minister.  She had two sons and she would bring them when she came to visit Mama.  I thought it was interesting that they wore dresses.  It was not unusual for small boys to wear dresses until they were out of diapers, but these boys seemed to wear them much longer, both in length and in time.  Despite the dresses, we were always glad when they came and enjoyed their fellowship.

Papa was a talented farmer, and if it could be grown he could grow it.  We had a large garden near the house.  This stands out vividly in my mind, as I used to sit on the steps to the side porch and watch my mother gather vegetables.  In 1914, when I was two, Papa decided to move to Louisiana where it was said the land was good for growing cotton.

Two other families joined us to make the move.  Our band consisted of the Estus Evans family, the John Conn family and ours, the Sam Crawford family.  Among the three families, there were seventeen children.  Mr. Conn, Mr. Evans, my oldest brother, Bud, and the oldest Conn boy, Ellis, were elected to drive the teams and bring the wagons from Mississippi to Louisiana.  

They spent five nights on the road.  The last night was spent on the outskirts of the town of Ferriday, Louisiana.  Late the next day, they reached their destination which was near Deer Creek. They traveled over narrow dirt roads, crossed the Mississippi River at Natchez and the Tensas River near Clayton, Louisiana, on a ferry, and forded several small streams along the way.

Mama and Papa, Mrs. Conn and Mrs. Evans, along with the seventeen children, traveled by train. That evening, Papa took the older kids out for supper.  The policeman on the beat was amazed to see so many children following one man.  He asked Papa if they were all his.  Papa, always one for a good joke, said, "Yes, all mine!"  

A few years later, a man from Natchez bought a farm near ours in Catahoula Parish.  When he and Papa met, they recognized each other.  Papa had some explaining to do because the man was the policeman from Natchez.

 To Be Continued...

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Special thanks to Joan McLemore for allowing me to share her Aunt Flora's childhood remembrances.  Joan is the daughter of Flora's older sister, Dell Crawford Meadows.

The Gillis House ~ Tales and Remembrances, Part 4

The Gillis House, 1923-1933

The following transcript is from the recollections of Flora Kathryn Crawford Eschenburg who lived with her family in the Gillis House from 1923 to 1933.  Flora was born in 1912 and passed from this life in 2004. She was the ninth of twelve children born to the marriage of Samuel Cooke Crawford and Rachel Victoria Seal.  It is believed by family members that the scene in the above photograph was probably on a Saturday afternoon with the help waiting to be paid before going into town.

Our home was the ideal setting for Halloween parties and we made the most of it.  We would have someone dressed in sheets in the huge front yard greeting the guests as they arrived.  Upon entering the house, they were required to go up the stairway where one of us dressed as a witch would tell fortunes.

The guests were then directed down the hall and through the attic where they were greeted in the dark by someone who shook their hands while holding a cold, wet glove.  They progressed through the attic, crawling over sacks of cans and other noise makers, and exited down the back stairs.  The usual Halloween games would begin, with a favorite being bobbing for apples.

Until the time Huey P. Long became Governor, most rivers had to be crossed by ferries which ran from 6:00 a.m. until 12:00 midnight.  To get to Harrisonburg, our parish seat, we had to cross the Ouachita River ferry.  During the spring months it was not unusual for the rivers to rise and leave their banks.  

During one of these high-water times, my sister and I entertained some boys from Harrisonburg with stories of the Gillis House.  One story was about our guest room upstairs.  In that room, it seemed to be impossible to keep the covers on the bed.  Throughout the night, the occupant found it necessary to retrieve the covers that had slipped off.

Our guests were so enthralled by the stories that they failed to watch the time and it was midnight before they realized.  They had no choice but to spend the night in our guest room. They were awakened more than once during the night trying to find the covers.  They were wide-eyed when they came down the stairs the next morning and vowed that they would be more time conscious in the future.

My sister, Sophie, came home from college to teach at the local school.  She moved into the Gillis House and chose for privacy what had previously served as the guest room.  She battled the "ghosts" for the covers for two years, but took courage from the fact that our brother Dub's room was next door.

We looked forward to visits from Mr. Peck [William Smith Peck, II].  He and a friend, Dr. Gordon, had lived in the Gillis House during their bachelor years.  He told us about the room at the top of the stairs.

Anyone sleeping in that room might be awakened by a presence.  According to those who experienced it, the being appeared to be a headless woman who would walk to the mantle over the fireplace, turn, and walk quietly out of the room.  The occupant was left frozen with fear.

Mr. Peck also told us about a strange happening on the road to the Gillis House.  The road led along the banks of a lake.  The rider had to dismount and open a gate in order to continue down the road that led into the plantation.  As the rider led his horse through the gate and turned to fasten it, he would be approached by a man in disguise who seemed to look the rider over and disappear, never causing harm.

The year was 1933.  The date was December 3.  It was the year of the World's Fair in Chicago.  I was home for the weekend.  My sister Dot and I were sleeping in the front bedroom and were awakened by the calling of one of the field hands that worked for Papa.

He had been in a fight and was badly cut.  He was bleeding profusely.  Both Dot and I grumbled over the fact that we would have to clean up the porch the next morning.  To our surprise, that job was taken care of in another way.  The house caught fire within the heavily plastered walls and we were unable to reach the source.  The fire spread and the house burned to the ground ending the many good times we had there.

It was believed that a mouse may have started the fire by carrying a match into the walls.  But who knows.  Maybe the ghosts just finally got tired of trying to run us out and decided to burn us out.

The day the Gillis House burned still remains one of the saddest days in the memory of the Crawford family.  We lost more than possessions.  We lost a cherished way of life.  

I always believed that loss helped bring on what I thought to be an early death of Papa.  He died of a heart attack shortly after his 65th birthday in 1935.  He died doing one of the things he loved the best--hunting.

The house was rebuilt on the same foundation, but life there was never the same.  I remained there for two years before leaving for Texas in 1936.  I left behind my youth and took with me memories never to be forgotten.

**********

Special thanks to Joan McLemore, daughter of Dell Crawford Meadows, for allowing me to share their family history and memories of the Gillis House on Roots from the Bayou.

Note:  Parts 1-3 of the 'Gillis House' can be found in the Tags List on the right-hand side of this blog.

The Gillis House ~ Tales and Remembrances, Part 3

The Gillis House, 1923-1933

The following transcript is from the recollections of Flora Kathryn Crawford Eschenburg who lived with her family in the Gillis House from 1923 to 1933.  Flora was born in 1912 and passed from this life in 2004. She was the ninth of twelve children born to the marriage of Samuel Cooke Crawford and Rachel Victoria Seal.  It is believed by family members that the scene in the above photograph was probably on a Saturday afternoon with the help waiting to be paid before going into town.

With a family as large as ours, it was necessary for everyone to carry out their assigned chores. Our regular fall job was to pick the dried black-eyed peas, shell them and sack them.  The filled sacks were then stacked on the back porch near the attic steps.  

One night we were awakened by the sound of peas being scattered all over the porch floor.  Papa was certain that the cows had gotten into the yard and had been successful in stretching their necks and tongues to reach the pea sacks for a midnight snack.  When Papa checked, not at all happy that his sleep had been disturbed, no cows were to be found and the peas were still neatly stacked.

The family cemetery for the early settlers of the area was about two hundred yards from our house.  I had an occasion to attend a funeral at the cemetery before we moved into the Gillis House.  A relative of the owner who lived in Natchez, Mississippi, died and his body was brought to the Gillis place for burial.  

Since he was someone prominent and was related to the owner and one of the most important members of our small village, school was dismissed so that anyone who wanted to could attend the funeral.  Being of a curious nature, I went along with others. 

The funeral was conducted by a Catholic priest from Natchez.  To my young mind, he was dressed in a peculiar robe and cap and spoke in a language that I could only suppose was Latin.  I had heard of the Catholic Church, but had never seen a priest or attended any of their masses. Therefore, it seemed strange to me to see him sprinkling Holy water and making the sign of the cross.

The experience stood out in my mind for a long time.  I never dreamed I would so soon be living as a neighbor to the cemetery where the burial had taken place.  My brothers and sisters and I loved to roam through that cemetery and read the headstones and wonder about the people who had lived and died so many years back.

It afforded entertainment for friends who visited us, and we would spend Sunday afternoons exploring.  Some evenings, as we looked from our house toward the cemetery, we would see one or more light moving around.  We were never able to determine who or what caused these eerie lights.

Much to the regret of the community, the present owners demolished all the tombstones, even though they were burial sites for relatives and certainly held much history.  Now the cemetery is nothing more than an enlargement of the field that once joined it.  Crops grow there just as though the cemetery never existed.  Bits and pieces of tombstones are scattered around, but not enough to piece together the history of the place. [*See footnote]

Unexplained footsteps were a common occurrence around the Gillis House.  We usually gathered in our living room to do our homework.  Sometimes we would hear steps walking along the long side porch past the room.  We would get up to see who was missing from our group that might be trying to frighten us, but everyone was always accounted for.  

The front doors to the house were big, thick double doors that opened near the long stairway.  On more than one occasion, footsteps were heard climbing the stairs.  Our brothers had their rooms upstairs and it would have been easy to dismiss the steps as being theirs, but often they were either studying with us, or they were not at home.

One fall evening, Mr. Peck [William Smith Peck, II] was driving home from town and was stopped by strangers.  After satisfying their curiosity as to his identity, they released him unharmed.  When he reached his home, he called for our father, brothers and friends to help search for the unknown assailants.  

The search took place at night and Mama and the younger children were left alone.  We closed ourselves up tight in Mama's room and huddled together for comfort.  Papa had been gone some time when we heard footsteps in the hall.  Mama called to them, but got no answer.  

She went to Papa's closet, got his gun, and called to the intruder again.  Again she received no answer.  We will never know if the footsteps were those of the strangers, or those of our resident spirits.

We often heard the piano in our living room play with no one at the keyboard.  I recall that I was home recuperating from surgery when my landlady and her two daughters came to pay a call.  I shared some of the tales about the house, including the one about the playing piano.  

As I was telling the tale, the piano began to play.  The lady and her daughters made their excuses and left.  I know they were dreading the drive home.

To Be Continued...

 **********

Special thanks to Joan McLemore, daughter of Dell Crawford Meadows, for allowing me to share their family history and memories of the Gillis House on Roots from the Bayou.

*Footnote:  The great-granddaughter of William Smith Peck, II, requested that a footnote be added to this post.  Per their family records, the original Gillis Cemetery has never been in cultivation.  Over the years, cows broke through the fence and stampeded over many of the tombstones.  Several years ago, the granddaughter of William Smith Peck, II, had all remaining tombstones cleaned and the original cemetery is still intact.

Note:  Parts 1-2 of the 'Gillis House' can be found in the Tags List on the right-hand side of this blog.

The Gillis House ~ Tales and Remembrances, Part 2

The Gillis House, 1923-1933

The following transcript is from the recollections of Flora Kathryn Crawford Eschenburg who lived with her family in the Gillis House from 1923 to 1933.  Flora was born in 1912 and passed from this life in 2004. She was the ninth of twelve children born to the marriage of Samuel Cooke Crawford and Rachel Victoria Seal.  It is believed by family members that the scene in the above photograph was probably on a Saturday afternoon with the help waiting to be paid before going into town.

The Crawford family moved into the Gillis House near Sicily Island, Louisiana in 1923.  Papa was always a bit superstitious.  He would never begin a new job on a Friday, believing that if he did, something would happen to prevent him from finishing it.

Among his other superstitions, I think he believed in ghosts.  Mama, however, always believed that there was an explanation for everything.  Nevertheless, as we grew up, many an event took place in our new home that Papa attributed to ghosts, and for which Mama could never find her explanation.

Some might think that living in a haunted house would be a trial, but Papa said that any ghost that could survive the twelve Crawford children was welcome to share the place.  We spent some of the happiest years of our lives in the Gillis House.

The house had been a showplace in its time, but it had been vacant for several years.  The main floor of the house consisted of four 20' by 20' rooms and a kitchen, each with sixteen foot ceilings and fireplaces.  

The kitchen contained two very large pantries which seemed to be a necessity when feeding a family of fourteen.  There was a main hall with a cross hall at the end forming a T.  The house had porches on every side which were accessible from every room except two.

The second floor contained four 20' by 20' rooms with fireplaces, a main hallway, and an attic that opened at the end of the hallway.  In all, there were eleven fireplaces in the house.

A long stairway containing twenty-two steps led from the first to the second floor.  I know there were twenty-two steps because I counted them every time I had to climb them which seemed to make the climb shorter.  The banister was made of a beautiful wood we always thought to be mahogany.  There was also a back stairway that led from the attic down to the back porch.

Of course we had heard stories about the house.  When a new family moves into a long-vacant, reputedly haunted house, the neighbors are only too happy to share the tales.

Former residents of the house had not been a happy group.  When we noticed a large stain on the floor of the room we were to use as our living room, we were told that a man had been stabbed to death in that spot.  The blood had soaked into the wood and no amount of cleaning could remove the stain.  

Upon further inspection of our new home, we noticed bullet holes in the wall of the porch outside the living room.  Mr. Peck [William Smith Peck, II], the owner of the plantation which my brother Bud was the foreman, told us that a former resident had been enjoying a summer evening when he was shot by a man who stood outside the yard fence.

Then there was the well-known fact that Mr. Nichols who had lived in the house at one time had committed suicide.  Apparently he had been despondent, mounted his horse, and solemnly told his wife goodbye.  He rode the animal down to the lake and into the water where he cut his throat.

At one time, the house had been used as an entertainment hall.  Many dances were held there with music provided by famous name bands and guests coming from far away places.  Names and addresses were left on the white walls all over the house.

One band came from New Orleans many times, and the house was the stage for the famous Bud Scott Band. 

When we moved in, Mama made us scrub all the names and addresses off the walls.  Our oldest brother Dub, however, insisted that they be left on the walls of his room.

These tales did not deter us, and we completed our move late one fall evening.  After supper our first night in the house, we all gathered about the fireplace in our parents' bedroom.  We heard a horrible noise which seemed to have come from the horse lot nearby.  

From the sound, Papa thought one of the horses had his head stuck in an empty feed bucket and was banging it about trying to free himself.  Papa and my brothers rushed to the lot only to find everything quiet and peaceful.  The horses were enjoying their evening feed.  It seemed as if the ghosts were unhappy to have their home invaded and were trying to frighten us away.

The "ghosts" made their presence known in a variety of ways those first few months.  

Mama was cooking the noon meal when she heard a noise that sounded as though the bookcase at the top of the stairs had been overturned, scattering the books down the stairs.  When she went to investigate, the books were all in place and the noise could never be explained.

One night after we had all gone to bed, we were awakened by a loud noise from what we thought was the kitchen pantry.  Empty jars used for canning the vegetables grown in our garden were kept there.  The sound convinced us all that perhaps the family cat had inadvertently been locked in the pantry and in his desperate struggle to get free had knocked every jar from the shelf.   Mama and Papa hurried to free the cat and right the damages.  No cat was found and all the jars were in place on the pantry shelves.

Our landlord, Will Peck, would drop by from time to time and visit.  We would share with him the strange things we were experiencing.  He would in turn tell us of the tales he had heard through the years.  We were convinced they were true.  

One story he told was about a local woman who died and was buried wearing her diamond ring. Grave robbers exhumed her body to steal the ring.  In their haste to leave the scene, they neglected to rebury the body.  It was rumored that the woman's fretful spirit wandered the area seeking her final rest.

To Be Continued...

**********

Special thanks to Joan McLemore, daughter of Dell Crawford Meadows, for allowing me to share their family history and memories of the Gillis House on Roots from the Bayou.

Note:  Part 1 of the 'Gillis House' can be found in the Tags List on the right-hand side of this blog.

The Gillis House ~ Tales and Remembrances, Part 1

The Gillis House, 1923-1933

The following transcript is from the recollections of Flora Kathryn Crawford Eschenburg who lived with her family in the Gillis House from 1923 to 1933.  Flora was born in 1912 and passed from this life in 2004. She was the ninth of twelve children born to the marriage of Samuel Cooke Crawford and Rachel Victoria Seal.  It is believed by family members that the scene in the above photograph was probably on a Saturday afternoon with the help waiting to be paid before going into town.

INTRODUCTION
Gayle Eschenburg Evertson

One of my most cherished memories of childhood was listening to my mother and her brothers and sisters tell stories.  There was a talent among the twelve siblings of the Crawford family for spinning a tale that would hold the listener spellbound.  

My favorite stories were those about the Gillis (Juh lees) House, a home on the Peck Plantation in Sicily Island, Louisiana, that was home to the Crawfords.  

It was haunted.

Entertainment at teenage parties at my home or the homes of my cousins included all the typical activities like eating, giggling, talking about boys, listening to  records and dancing.  But the highlight of the evening, when we were feeling bold enough, was to plead with my mother to tell ghost stories about the home in which she spent her youth.

The lights would be dimmed, everyone would huddle together in serious, awe struck quiet, and Mother held the stage.  Nothing  compared to the chills we experienced as we listened to the stories of unexplained events that invaded the lives of those who lived in the Gillis House.

All these stories lived vividly in the memories of those who experienced the phenomena, but as that generation began to die, I became concerned that these stories would be lost.  Of the twelve Crawford children, only three remain.  

While my generation delighted in the hearing, we were woefully inadequate in the retelling.  After years of pleading, I finally impressed upon my mother the importance of putting these stories in writing, so that her grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and any others who follow, will have an account of the mysterious events that were part of the Gillis House and the Crawford family.

What follows are the remembrances of my mother, Flora Crawford Eschenburg, and my aunt, Sophie Lee Haley.

Stay tuned for Part 2...



Special thanks to Joan McLemore, daughter of Dell Crawford Meadows, for allowing me to share their family history and memories of the Gillis House on Roots from the Bayou.