Sentimental Sunday ~ The Old Steele House

Side view showing the storm cellar

My three-great grandfather, James Luther Smith, built the original house for his granddaughter, Mary Virginia "Mollie" Blackman and her husband, Isham Alfonso "Al" Steele.  In the beginning, the house had only four rooms and a kitchen.

The front room was built some time prior to 1900 as Mollie and Al's daughter, Mary Allye, was born in this room on March 9, 1900.  The storm cellar seen in the photograph above was built prior to 1911 by a white mustached man referred to as "the Irishman."  A long porch was built across the front of the house in 1922 by Mr. Tom Hardin and a bigger kitchen was built ca. 1925.  The side porch was built in the early 1930s. 

In 1911, Al Steele and family moved to Childress, Texas to live near one of Al's sisters, Lydia Francis "Lyd" Steele and her husband Silas Abe Greer.  While the Steele family was living in Texas, the Edmon Clark Chambers family lived in the Steele House.  In Ollie Chambers' collection of remembrances, Down Memory Lane, she recalls the following:

Our parents rented the Steele house in 1912.  That was indeed a terrible year for our family.  Mearine, Luceil, Darris and Ollie had typhoid fever.  The only help our parents could get was an old colored woman named, Annie Barkshire. 

There seemed to be many tornadoes or hurricanes at this time.  There was a storm cellar in the side yard in easy access to the front porch, in which our parents kept a lantern, plenty of matches in a can, fresh water was kept in jars or bottles, also quilts for us to sleep upon.  There were benches in the storm cellar.

Annie Barkshire always came to our house to join us in the storm cellar.  Our parents always had a big can that had a top on it, in which they kept canned foods, vienna sausage, potted meat, crackers and cookies.  If Mama had time, when we went to the storm cellar, she took cottage cheese that she had made, also fresh milk.  Fortunately, we never had to stay in the storm cellar long enough to use up all the food.  However, you can imagine with four hungry girls, Annie Barksire, and Mama and Papa, that a great deal of nourishment was consumed.

In 1912, Claude and Vivian Martin Enright were living in the Steele house where their son, Claude Martin Enright was born. 

Robert Otis Moss and Marion Smith were married in the Steele house ca. 1922. 

Sisters, Sarah Virginia and Evelyn Steele Ogden, were born in the Steele house in 1922 and 1926, respectively.

My grandparents, Bruce and Mary Allye Steele Edmonds lived in the Steele house until 1958 when they swapped houses with their son (my father), Bruce Alfonso Edmonds and his family.

The old Steele house is gone now.  Fire destroyed it about twenty years ago.  I grew up in this house.  Many years were spent playing under the old pecan trees planted over 100 years ago by my great-grandfather, Al Steele. 

We never had to use the storm cellar for protection from tornadoes and hurricanes but it made the perfect fort for playing cowboys and indians with my brothers and friends.



(Cross-posted from Pathway To Remembrance)

Isham Alfonso "Al" Steele Family

Isham Alfonso "Al" Steele (1870-1934)

Isham Alfonso "Al" Steele, the son of Francis Marion "Frank" and Lucinda Chisum Steele, was born November 20, 1870 in Limestone County, Texas.

Other children born to the marriage of Frank and Lucinda Steele were:  Lula, 1866-1955 (m. Henry H. Stubbs); Lydia Francis, 1867-1941 (m. Silas A. Greer); Louella "Ella", 1868-1954 (m. Walter A. Walling); Mary Allye "Madie", 1872-1961 (m. Henry R. Eaton); Lena Rhoda, 1877-1960 (m. James "Jim" McLelland).

Lucinda Chisum Steele

Frank Steele

Amanuensis Monday - The Stories That Should Be Told, Part 67

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. 

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. 

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.  

Old Steele house in town

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.

Amanuensis Monday - The Stories That Should Be Told, Part 63

The following transcription is from a series of recordings my father made in the early 1990s:

Today is November 4, 1991.  One can imagine this day back in 1915 when my Aunt Nita was born.  She was born in the old Steele house which sat on this very ground before it burned down on August the 17th of last year.  In fact, where I'm sitting as I make these tapes is probably no more than thirty feet from the spot where she was born. 

She was named Lena Juanita after her aunt, Lena Rhoda Steele McLelland.  Everyone called her Nita.

Nita was about thirteen years old when I was born.  My first memory of her was when I was about three years old.  I called her "Nina" up until I was around ten years old. 

"Nina" and Bruce

Nita told me on many occasions over the years that I was the first baby she ever loved.  I loved her, too.  It always made me feel good when she told me that.  It is a wonderful memory to have.

Lena Juanita "Nita" Steele

She was a beautiful girl and a beautiful woman.  

Nita married William Peck in 1938.  They had two children.  Will was born on March 6, 1939.  Betty was born on May 2, 1944.

Nita died in 1982 in her late sixties.  My mother died in 1969 when she was sixty-nine years old.  Their mother, my Grandma Steele, died when she was sixty-nine years old.  Their sister Lucille [called Dick] is still living.  She was eighty-nine this past September.  The oldest child named Edna died when she was several months old.  She was a little redheaded girl. 

Mary Allye Steele Edmonds, Lena Juanita "Nita" Steele Peck, Clara Lucille "Dick" Steele Ogden

All four girls were born in the old Steele house.  Lord, I miss that old Steele house.  The front part of the old house was over ninety years old.  I am enjoying this new house with all its modern comforts like central heat and central air but I still miss the old Steele house.  I always will.

All the kids here in the village used to gang up in this old yard and play; particularly in the Summer.  We had a lot of pecan trees in the yard so it was shady.  Nita’s age group which included Babe Knight, Martin Enright, Eloise Yancey, and Lorelle Seal played in this yard. 

Before this time, I’m sure my mother and Aunt Dick had a lot of kids over to play with them.  I know the same was true when I was growing up.  

My friends, cousins and I played all sorts of games out in this yard.  As I’ve mentioned on earlier tapes, my favorite game was Go Sheepy Go.  The only thing that I’d say came close to this game was Deer and Dog which we played once I started school.  One group would be the deer and they would go hide.  The other group would be the dogs and they would go in search of the deer. 

The dog group would bark and howl and yelp like dogs when they were hunting the deer.  Once the dogs found the deer, the deer group would come out of their hiding places and little boys would be running all over the place.

Deer and Dog was a great game but nothing ever really compared to Go Sheepy Go.

I raised my children here.  My children and all of their friends played in this same old yard. 

Bruce's children

Years later, my grandson and his friends played out in the yard.  

This old yard has been a playground for well over seventy-five years.  Echoes of children’s voices linger on.

Note:  Parts 1-62 of 'The Stories That Should Be Told' can be found in the Tags List on the right-hand side of the blog.

Amanuensis Monday ~ The Stories That Should Be Told, Part 30

The following transcription is from a series of recordings my father made in the early 1990s:

Baseball on the Island... 

Just before my time, in the early 1900s, Sicily Island was quite a baseball town.  I remember hearing the older people talking about playing baseball and playing against the different towns.  I think the baseball diamond was over there where Mrs. Willie [Evans] Knight’s house and Mrs. Birdie Krause’s house stand today.  There was a cottonwood grove out behind this house I live in and on the edge of the cottonwood grove was the baseball diamond. 

Krause house in forefront; Knight house in background

I’ve heard the old people tell about the ball games.  One story I remember hearing them tell was about Mr. Henry Peniston.  Mr. Henry always wore thick glasses because he couldn’t see very well.  He was playing out in the field and somebody hit a fly ball.  Mr. Henry was running across the outfield to try to catch the fly ball.  It turned out that a sparrow was flying over and Mr. Henry was running across the outfield to catch it thinking it was the fly ball.  People laughed at him and he never played again.

Another tale that stood out in my mind because it impressed me so.  It was almost like I was there and could see and hear the crowd.  Sicily Island was playing Harrisonburg back in the day when Mr. Cicero Finlay was pitching baseball.  They said he was a good pitcher.  The game was being played in Sicily Island near the old cottonwood grove.  

According to the story, Harrisonburg was just tearing up Sicily Island.  The Harrisonburg folks were laughing and carrying on.  Dr. Disch got up and walked out on the baseball field and said, “Everybody calm down.  Be quiet and let me have your attention.” 

Nettie Blackman Fairbanks Disch

Everybody at the baseball game got quiet and Dr. Disch continued, “I wanted everybody to be quiet because it is train time.  The train will be coming through here in a few minutes.  I want all these people from Harrisonburg to get to see a train.  They never have seen a train before.”  Of course, the Sicily Island bunch laughed and poked fun at the Harrisonburg folks.  Sicily Island was getting beat at baseball but Dr. Disch fixed them up.

I-Bo Harris played baseball.  He told me one time that he knocked a home run and Dr. Disch gave him a dollar bill.  Dr. Disch was a great competitor.  He was Willie and Mary Disch’s father.  He was Dr. Russell Fairbanks’ step-father.  Dr. Disch married Grandma Steele’s sister, Nettie [Blackman].  She had married Dr. Henry Fairbanks and when he died she married Dr. Henry Disch.

Gypsies and Tramps...

For those of us sixty years and older, we remember the gypsies.  It was always at least once a year some gypsies would come through these little towns.  They might stay around a week or two.  The gypsies would camp down the road towards Clayton, in the swamps. 

Gypsies

What I remember about the gypsies is they usually had great big ole cars.  They sold all kinds of things, scarves, table cloths, and things they would make out of vines, limbs and sticks. 

When word got out that the gypsies were in town people would warn the children to watch out for the gypsies so they couldn’t kidnap them.  I never knew of a gypsy kidnapping a child.  

They were dark skinned people and talked some kind of language we couldn’t understand.  They could talk English when they wanted to.

When the gypsies would come to town, the merchants would get inside and lock the doors.  The gypsy women would wear great ole big skirts and dresses and people said the gypsies would steal all sorts of things and hide them in their clothes.  I remember seeing them in town one day and they were just running up to people and talking.  

Folks said the gypsies would steal your pocketbook.  Mr. Joe Francis was out on the street and two or three of those gypsy women went up to him.  He was laughing at them but he was pushing them away.  He wouldn’t let them get up close to him to get his money. 

The gypsies stopped coming through here about the same time the tramps stopped coming through.

Hobo

Tramps were hobos; old men who had left home, hitchhiking up and down the railroad catching freight trains.  They would jump off the freight trains in little towns like Sicily Island and go door-to-door begging for a meal.  People fed them.  No one ever knew who they were or where they were from.  

The last tramp I saw was sitting out on the front steps of the old Steele house.  Grandma Steele took him some dinner.  That was in the early 1930s.

Games, Dress-up Gone Bad and Revenge...

I remember the games we played as children.  I’ve talked about a couple on earlier tapes.  Most of the games were played right here in the yard where I live today.  

There was a big old pump house in this yard.  It had a steep sloping roof on it.  We played a game called ‘Annie Over’ where we would split up into two teams, one on each side of the pump house.   

A rubber ball was tossed back and forth over the roof of the pump house.  We would yell, ‘Annie Over’ to let the opposing team know the ball was coming over.  If someone caught the ball before it hit the ground, they could run around the pump house and throw the ball at one of the other team’s players. 

Another great game was going out in the patches of clover trying to find four-leaf clovers.  There were patches of clover all over this little town.  I don’t think I ever found a four-leaf clover.  I do remember making the clover chains, though.

Sarah Virginia Ogden

I remember the time I let some of the girls dress me up like a little girl.  There was a bunch of girls in the front room of Grandma Steele’s house and Evelyn Benge was setting their hair.  Somehow they would make waves in their hair using hairpins.  

Somebody suggested that they ought to give me a wave.  I said, “No, uh uh!”  My cousin, Virginia Ogden, knew I thought Martin Enright was a handsome fellow.  She whispered that to the other girls and they told me they could make me look like Martin if I let them set my hair.  Hell, I went for that! 

They set my hair and they all commented on how good I looked and how much I looked like Martin Enright.  I kind of liked all that.  They suggested I put on one my Cousin Evelyn’s dresses and go up town and fool people.  I went for that, too.  They even put girl’s stockings and shoes on my feet and a little hat on my head.  Once they were finished, they sent me up town.

I went up town and got to the back of Montgomery’s store.  The Montgomerys lived in the back of the store.  Margie Montgomery [Chisum] came to the door and saw me.  She made like I fooled her.  She turned around and called her mother, Mrs. Annie Blair Montgomery, to come see this cute little girl.  I wasn’t supposed to fool her that bad!  I didn’t like that!  

Mrs. Annie stepped out and said, “Oh, isn’t she cute!”  Man, I went wild!  Every cuss word I had learned up to that time, I said it.  I got so mad that it wasn’t funny.  I remember Mrs. Annie saying she was going to tell my mama.  

I ran all the way back to Grandma Steele’s house.  As I was running, I was trying to tear that hat and dress off.  I could hear all those girls laughing.  That just made me madder.  They wanted me to fool people but I didn’t want to fool them THAT bad!

Evelyn Steele Ogden

I think my cousin, Virginia, was the instigator of a lot of those things.  She was four years older than me.  Oh, she got such a kick out of me dressing up like a girl and really enjoyed laughing at me. 

I got even with her.

She went out to the fig tree in the backyard and filled a bowl with figs.  When she brought them back inside, she washed and peeled them then put sugar all over them before putting them in the icebox.   She wanted to get them real cold before she ate them.  

Her sister Evelyn and I went in there and we got one fig each.  They were so good, we went back and got the whole bowl and ate all of them.  I can remember Virginia letting out a squall and a scream when she went to get her bowl of figs to eat and all she found was an empty bowl.  

I’ve tried to make up for that stunt in recent years.  I send her fig preserves every year.

Bruce, Virginia and Evelyn

Note:  Parts 1-29 of 'The Stories That Should Be Told' can be found in the Tags List on the right-hand side of the blog.

Jim and Lena Steele McLelland

James A. "Jim" McLelland was born on October 23, 1870 in Texas.  In 1895 he married Lena Rhoda Steele who was born on December 22, 1877 to the marriage of Francis Marion "Frank" Steele and Lucinda Chisum.

After their marriage, Jim and Lena made their home in Limestone County, Texas until moving to Sicily Island prior to 1910.  Lena's brother, Isham Alfonso Steele, had made his home in Sicily Island about twelve years earlier and Lena decided she wanted to move to Sicily Island as well.  Jim was content to stay in Texas and did not want to relocate.

The story goes that Lena told Jim she was moving to Sicily Island whether he moved with her or not.  Jim remained adamant that he was not moving.  Lena would not yield.  She packed her belongings and asked Jim to take her by wagon to the train station.  Jim, believing she would not go through with her plans, agreed to take her to catch the train.  Lena's belongings were loaded on the train and at the very last minute, Jim jumped aboard with nothing but the clothes on his back. Over the years, Lena would often tell this story and Jim would only smile; never denying the circumstances under which he became a resident of Sicily Island.

Jim would later represent Sicily Island as a Policy Jury member for Ward 2 from 1934 to 1936.  He also served as the second vice-president of the Truck Grower's Association formed in 1909 by the farmers of Sicily Island.

Rice Belt Journal, Calcasieu Parish - 7/16/1909 (courtesy of Chronicling America)

Jim and Lena lived on Highway 8 in the house pictured below:

The Steele Sisters

Four daughters were born to the marriage of Isham Alfonso "Al" Steele and Mary Virginia "Mollie" Blackman Steele. 

One daughter, Edna was born on February 27, 1899 and died in August of the same year.  She is buried in the Old Pine Hill Cemetery in Sicily Island.  

 

The second daughter born to Al and Mollie Steele was Mary Allye.  She was born on March 4, 1900.  

On March 29, 1926, she married Bruce Edmonds who was born on January 23, 1904 in Whelen Springs, Clark County, Arkansas.

Allye and Bruce originally lived in a little house on the street that runs behind the current location of the Post Office.  After the deaths of Al and Mollie, they moved into the old Steele house located behind the bank.


In the 1950s Allye and Bruce swapped houses with their only child, Bruce and his wife, Mildred who were living with four of their children in a smaller house next door. 

Remembrances of Ollie Chambers Carson

Laura Ollie Chambers was born on April 18, 1905 in Florence (now Sicily Island), Louisiana to Edmon Clark Chambers and Lottie Arminda West Chambers. 

Mr. and Mrs. Edmon Clark Chambers

The following are excerpts from a collection of remembrances entitled, Down Memory Lane, written by Ollie  between 1987 and 1989 at the age of 82-84.

Life is the opening to many doors.  But there is a single door one may open without fear, confident of what lies on the other side.  That is the door of memory.  For most of us, it becomes an increasing pleasure to open that door more often and take a restful mental stroll back down past corridors. 

Mr. and Mrs. Edmon Clark Chambers moved to Florence, Louisiana in early January, 1905.  The first year my parents came to Florence, Louisiana, they boarded with Mrs. Joe Bryan for several weeks, until they could find a place to rent.  They rented the Old Bennett House on the banks of Lake Louis, just beyond where Clarendon and Mamie Dell Peck now live.  

We lived in the Bennett house only one year.  The following year, our parents rented a house about one-half mile from town, on the Peniston place, living there until 1912.  Darris and Luceil were born there.  This road is now highway number eight.

Our parents rented the Steele house (that is where Bruce and Mildred Edmonds live now) in 1912.  That was indeed a terrible year for our family.  Mearine, Darris, Luceil and Ollie had typhoid fever.  The only help our parents could get was an old colored woman named Annie Barkshare.

Steele House - Storm Cellar, bottom right corner

There seemed to be many tornadoes or hurricanes at this time.  There was a storm cellar in the side yard in easy access to the front porch, in which our parents kept a lantern, plenty of matches in a can, fresh water was kept in jars or bottles, also quilts for us to sleep upon.  There were benches in the storm cellar.  

Annie Barkshare always came to our house to join us in the storm cellar.  Our parents always had a big can that had a top on it, in which they kept canned foods, vienna sausage, potted meat, crackers, and cookies.  If Mama had time, when we went to the storm cellar, she took cottage cheese that she had made, also fresh milk. Fortunately, we never had to stay in the storm cellar long enough to use up all the food.  However, you can imagine with four hungry girls, Annie Barkshare, and Mama and Papa that a great deal of nourishment was consumed.

In 1911, Papa opened a butcher shop, in a small building on Main Street.  Papa only sold fresh beef on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.  There was very little refrigeration at that time to keep a shop open all week.

In 1913, we moved in a house that was on the plot of land where Kitty and Marvin Nolen now live.  At the end of the year 1913, our parents bought the Old Miller Home and started the co-enterprise, Sycamore Boarding House and Livery Stable Business.  

Chambers Hotel, 2011

Sycamore House was enlarged in 1918 with the addition of four bedrooms on the North Wing and one bedroom on the South Wing. [Note:  Sycamore House was also known as The Chambers Hotel]

Chambers Hotel, 2011

Chambers Hotel Office, 2011

My father made daily round trips to Harrisonburg, Louisiana, the parish seat, using horses and buggies.  It wasn't long before they were replaced with Model-T Fords.  About this time, Papa acquired a contract to carry mail to and from Sicily Island to Harrisonburg.  Other activities included farming and raising cattle.

Mr. and Mrs. Edmon Clark Chambers and daughters

In 1919, our parents bought the Old F. O. Denham place, at the foot of the Ouachita Hills, near Leland.  Later on Papa rented Lakeview, on the Tensas River, for farming and raising cattle.

When we went to the store on Saturday mornings, each of us had a nickel to spend.  We always bought something different.  Afterwards, we came home and sat on wooden blocks and divided equally what each one had bought.  A nickel bought a lot in those days.

My first Christmas memories were in Sicily Island.  There was a tall Christmas tree in the First Methodist Church.  I saw a big doll on the tree and how I wished for it.  I couldn't believe my eyes when Santa Claus handed me the doll.  I cried from joy.  Mama and Papa looked so pleased, as I was so happy.

Mama had a cow named Old Maggie.  I'm not sure who did the milking before Mearine started when she was old enough.  She wanted me to try, but I fooled them.  I just could not get a drop of milk, so Darris took over, delighted to have the job.  Luceil and I never did milk that cow.

Late in the afternoon, mama would permit us to take off our shoes and make footprints in the dirt road.  Then we had to come in for a good foot washing.  After we went to bed, we made shadows on the wall.  A lamp was kept lighted in our room that made it possible for us to create unusual shadows. 

One day I did something that I was forbidden to do, consequently, Mama broke off a small branch from one of the peach trees and switched me with it.  I remarked, "Mama, we won't have any peaches if you do this often".  Mama said, "If you would listen to me, this won't be necessary again".

We had two double beds in our room.  Mearine and Luceil slept in one and Darris and I slept together in the other bed.  Darris was always wanting me to move over, so one night I got out of bed and came around to her side of the bed.  All of a sudden I heard Darris crying.  She had fallen out of bed and landed between the bed and the wall.

Papa bought us our first basketball.  He had a goal put up for us in the backyard for us to practice goal throwing.  

[Note:  Mearine was a member of the Sicily Island Central High girls basketball team as well as the State basketball team.  She is pictured below (4th from Left) with her high school teammates.]

Mama taught us to dance.  We learned to waltz and to do the two-step.  We were permitted to have parties at our house.  Mama always had nice refreshments for us.  It might be pull candy, popcorn balls, lemonade,  or hot chocolate.  One of our favorites were her delicious pop-ups.

Some of the highlights were going to public dances, which were always well chaperoned.  One that we particularly enjoyed was held at the Old Gillis Home, an antebellum home on Lake Louis, and the music was by Bud Scott's Band, a well known black musician from Natchez, Mississippi. 

My grandfather, Lewis West, my mother's father, lived with us a number of years.  He always sat on the front porch, with his hat on to prevent the glare in his eyes, and smoked his pipe.  He showed us how a frog could not jump or hop.  He would throw a ball bearing to the frog, which the frog swallowed, and then he couldn't jump.  Then Grandpa would hold up the frog and shake him.  The ball bearing would fall out and the poor frog would hurriedly hop away.

I remember when Darris jumped off the back porch, before it was screened, and cut her foot very deep.  Dr. Gordon was out in the country on a call.  But fortunately Mr. Squires came by and saw Darris was bleeding so much, he asked Mama if he could help.  He reached under the steps and got a hand full of cobwebs and added sugar to the cobwebs, and that really stopped the bleeding.  We were all amazed.

Sicily Island Teachers - Darris Chambers standing to the right of the flag pole

Kit Carson came to Sicily Island in the fall of 1919 to become the principal at the Consolidated School, which was located over a mile from town.  He boarded in our home.  My parents liked him very much and only charged him very little for living quarters and meals.  When the school year ended, Kit returned to S.L.I. in Lafayette, Louisiana and completed courses for his B.S. Degree.

Every summer, my parents invited Kit to come and spend a few days fishing and during the Christmas Holidays to come and go deer hunting.  When I entered Normal College at Natchitoches, Louisiana, Kit began sending me candy and sheet music ever so often.  That is when I realized that he was interested in me as a real friend.  After the first year at Normal, Kit came to see me in Sicily Island.  He came every summer and during the Christmas Holidays afterwards.

We became engaged during the Christmas Holidays in 1927.  He gave me my engagement ring.  How happy we were and so were my parents.  We were married August 15, 1928 in my home, with Reverend W. T. Woodward officiating.  

August 15, 1987, we celebrated our 59th Wedding Anniversary in Baton Rouge.



Laura Ollie Chambers Carson died on June 25, 1989.  Francis Marion "Kit" Carson died on September 2, 1989.  Both are buried in the Old Pine Hill Cemetery near Sicily Island.

Amanuensis Monday ~ The Stories That Should Be Told, Part 33

The following transcription is from a series of recordings my father made in the early 1990s:

The Goose Snatching...

Ellen and Newt Barlin had a son named Sam.  Sam was a year or two older than me.  He was called Goose Sam because he had stolen a goose from an old colored woman.

Grandma Steele

One morning, my mother and I walked over to Grandma Steele’s house.  She was out in the backyard by her chicken coop.  She told us she had bought a goose the day before from Sam Barlin.  The goose was missing.  Grandma said she believed that Sam had stolen the goose.  

The investigation began. 

On up in the day, Grandma Steele found out that Mrs. Birdie Krause, Oscar’s wife, had bought a goose from Sam the day before Grandma had bought a goose from him.  Mrs. Birdie discovered her goose was gone the next morning. 

The story finally unfolded that Sam had stolen the goose from Aunt Elvira Smith.  He sold it to Mrs. Birdie Krause then went back and stole it that night and sold it to Grandma Steele the next day.   Grandma turned him over to Uncle Tom Enright who was the Justice of the Peace. 

Dr. Russell Fairbanks

Uncle Tom had a little coffee shop up town and out in front of the shop is where he held court.  I remember all us kids, black and white, going to see Sam in court.  Uncle Tom sentenced Sam to a whipping by his father right there on the street.  Newt took his belt off and doubled it up.  They were standing there in front of the coffee shop and the barber shop when Newt whipped him. 

Car Owners in the Village in the 1930s...

Mr. Coney (school principal), Augusta Krause, Maurice Saltzman, Charlie Smith, Willie Benge (rural mail carrier), Aunt Nita Steele, Uncle Wes Ogden, Rufus and Willie Knight, Alvin Seal, Dr. Russell Fairbanks, Dr. Charles Gordon, Mrs. Anna Peniston, Reggie Cruse, Aunt Lena and Uncle Jim McLelland, Henry and Georgia Peniston, and Oscar and Birdie Krause.

Birdie Talbert Krause

Oscar Krause

Mr. Oscar's car was a little one seat car with a rumble seat in the back.  I got to ride in it one time when Mrs. Birdie took a bunch of us kids to Norris Springs.   

Norris Springs - 2011

Gone to Get a Baby...

One day I was over at Ouida and Juanita Seal’s house.  They lived next to the Krauses.  They told me that Mrs. Birdie and Mr. Oscar Krause had gone to get a baby.  Mrs. Birdie’s sister married a fellow named Westerburg from up around Winnsboro.  Her sister died shortly after having a baby boy.  Mrs. Birdie and Mr. Oscar were going to get the baby and raise it.

I waited there with Ouida and Juanita.  We wanted to see them come back with that baby.  After a while, we saw their car coming.  We ran over there as they parked their car under a little sycamore tree in front of their house.  I was eight years old at the time but I remember the scene like it was just last year.  They got out of the car and Mrs. Birdie had that baby wrapped up in a blanket.  The baby was about six weeks old and his name was Ben.

People around here knew him as Ben Krause when he was growing up.  To most folks, Mr. Oscar and Mrs. Birdie were his daddy and mama.  After he got older, everybody called him Ben Westerburg. 

Oh, Mr. Oscar was as crazy about that boy as if he was his own!  In later years, Ben’s father, Mr. Westerburg, retired from out in California and came back to this area.  He’s still alive today, living in a nursing home.  Ben lives out on the Cane Road on part of the old Krause place. 

The Preacher's Family...

Sicily Island Methodist Church

Brother E. W. Day was one of our Methodist preachers.  He and his family came to Sicily Island in 1933 and lived here until 1936.  They lived in the old parsonage that sat between the Kempe house and the Usher house.  He and his wife had five children.  Ernest, Henry, Marion, Cecil and Fern.  Cecil was about my age but my buddy was Henry who was about 3 or 4 years older than me. 

All the kids here in town would go up to the preacher’s house to play.  It was a big thing to go up there.  People say that preachers’ sons are mean.  Those boys weren’t mean but they were a tough bunch of boys.  Mrs. Bernice Day was the disciplinarian.  The boys would just run over Brother Day. 

I remember one time Mrs. Day took all of us boys to swim down at the point in the bay of Lake Lovelace.  It was like going to the beach.  The sandy point jutted out into the bay. 

Her four boys and several other of us boys were wrestling around in the back seat of their big ole car.  I don’t know what caused him to do it but the youngest boy, Cecil, said, 'shit'.  Mrs. Day heard him and she said, “Cecil, you better not say that ugly word or I’m gonna whip you!”  He said, 'shit'.  She said, “I told you I’m gonna whip you!”  He said, 'shit'. 

Lake Lovelace

We went on down the road to the point.  We went swimming and stayed down there a couple of hours.  After we got back to the parsonage, we went out to shoot marbles.  From inside the house we heard Mrs. Day say, “Oh, Cecil.  Cecil come here.”  He left the marble game and ran up in the house.  In a minute we heard a Whack, Whack, Whack.  She tore his backend up!  He was just a screaming.  I doubt he ever said that word again.

Effie Coan’s little girl, Tootsie, lived near the Methodist parsonage.  She was always going over to play with Fern Day.  The Days had several ole cats in the yard and two or three of them had kittens.  Tootsie and Fern each claimed a kitten as their own. 

One morning, Mrs. Day decided she was going to gather up some of the cats and haul them off.  She told her sons to gather them up.  Each one of her sons and two or three more of us boys who were up there playing grabbed a cat or two.  Fern was over at Tootsie’s house.  

We got them in the car and Mrs. Day said, “Don’t let little Fern or Tootsie see us hauling off their kittens, they’ll cry.”  About the time we pulled out on the road, Henry must have squeezed one of the cats because it let out a howl.  Fern and Tootsie spotted us and heard the cat howl.  They both started crying but we went on down the road.  

We headed toward Wisner and got up there near a place we called “the dip”.  The dip was a place in the highway about three miles up the road toward Wisner.  We put all those cats out.  It must have been twelve to fifteen cats.  We left them there around 9 o’clock that morning.

That evening about three or four o’clock, we were shooting marbles under an old shade tree beside the parsonage.  Somebody said, “Look!”  One of those ole cats that we had dropped off was just standing there.  It wasn’t a different cat.  We were all just amazed.  In a minute, another one showed up.  Within the next hour, I reckon eight or nine or ten cats showed up. 

I had heard that cats would find their way back home.  The amazing thing was that we had dropped them off about three miles away early that morning.

My buddy Henry was a tough ole boy.  Some of the older boys had found a motorcycle frame with handlebars.  They took some old tire rims off of a car or truck and put them on the front and back of the frame for wheels.  They had it down there at the side of that first bridge going out of Sicily Island toward Clayton. 

Bridge coming into Sicily Island

The slope going down to the bayou was steep.  The bayou was about two or three feet across and was about dried up.  There was a big truck tire that had been throw down there and it was buried up in that mud. 

Somebody was going to get to ride that motorcycle down that steep slope.  Henry volunteered to ride it down and I got on the back of it behind Henry.  The boys pushed us to the edge and let us go.

For about less than half a minute, we had a pretty good, fast ride!  

When we got to the bottom, the motorcycle hit that old tire buried up in that mud and we flew up into the air.  We must have flown ten or fifteen feet before landing on that hard, dry mud on the bank of the bayou.  It skinned us all up.  It was just a wonder it didn’t kill us.

I guess you’d say I was a follower.  I’d follow somebody else.  I never did have any nerve.  I wasn’t brave or anything.  If somebody I looked up to like Henry was going to ride that motorcycle down that slope, I was too.  That’s where my nerve came from.  I followed Henry.

I remember that ride.  I remember that wreck we had on that darn thing, too.

What a sad day it was for me when the Day family left Sicily Island!  There was an old cattle trailer hooked to a truck with all their furniture loaded in the trailer.  Henry and Marion were riding on the back of the truck.  I remember as they pulled out, Marion was singing some kind of old song.  

That was the last time I ever saw any of them.  

*Special thanks to Clay Fairbanks for allowing me to use the photograph of his grandfather, Dr. Russell Fairbanks.



Note:  Parts 1-32 of 'The Stories That Should Be Told' can be found in the Tags List on the right-hand side of the blog.