Rev. Leonidas Hill Brooks Family

Reverend Leonidas Hill Brooks was born in Catahoula Parish on January 8, 1881 to the marriage of Reverend John Madison Brooks and Priscilla E. Piety.

His siblings included the following:

Rev. Isaac Julian, 1879-1947 (m. Eula Lambert)
Dallas H., 1883-1948 (m. Lizzie Prestridge, 1884-1942)
John Friley, 1886-1942, (m. Anna Pearl Keenan, 1892-1993)
Rev. James Heard, 1889-1941 (m. Alicia Reitzell, 1895-1961)

Leonidas married Lillie Elouise Randall who was born on January 15, 1882 to the marriage of John Hiram Randall and Emily Wainwright.  Elouise's first cousin was John Calvin Randall who married Mary Frances Price.  John Calvin Randall's father, William Harmon, was a brother to John Hiram.

Leonidas died on July 23, 1948 and Elouise died on December 7, 1963.  Both are buried in the Old Pine Hill Cemetery in Sicily Island, Catahoula Parish, Louisiana.

The following children were born to the marriage of Reverend Leonidas Hill Brooks and Lillie Elouise Randall:

Aubrey Leonidas, 1908-1980 (m. Thelma Mitchell, 1908-1995)
Rev. Kerfoot Graves, 1911-1992 (m. Grace Chandler, 1916-1988)
Ann Hasseltine, 1912-2006 (m. Freeman Cornelius DeBoe, 1906-1992)
John Madison, 1914-1994 (m. Nelda Nobles, 1918-2000)
Rev. Richard Shadrack, 1922-1993 (m. Bessie Marie Little, 1922-1993)
Rev. Paul Elkins, 1924-2005 (m. Allie Glynne Ingram, 1924-2012)
Julian Dodd, 1918-1998 (m. Sibyl Louise Wurster, 1991-?)

Aubrey Brooks served the Catahoula Parish school system for forty-two years.  His first ten years of service were spent as a teacher, principal, coach and supervisor.   He served as the Catahoula Parish Superintendent of Education for the remaining thirty-two years.

Other areas of service included membership on the AASA Executive Council of Louisiana Teachers Association, two terms as president of the Fifth District School Superintendents Association, and membership in the Sicily Island Rotary Club. 

He and his wife, Thelma, made their home in Sicily Island where they raised three children; Pat, Craig and Nan. 

Aubrey Leonidas Brooks died on May 7, 1980.  Thelma Mitchell Brooks died on September 6, 1995.  Both are entombed in the Highland Park Cemetery in Sicily Island, Catahoula Parish, Louisiana.

Friday's Faces From the Past - Aubrey L. Brooks

Aubrey Leonidas Brooks

(1908-1980)

Son of

Rev. Leonidas Hill Brooks and Lillie Eloise Randall

Brother to

Kerfoot Graves, Ann Hasseltine, John Madison, Julian Dodd,

Richard Shadrack and Paul Elkins Brooks

Husband of

Thelma Mitchell

Father to

Pat, Craig and Nan Brooks

Aubrey Brooks served the Catahoula Parish school system for forty-two years.  His first ten years of service were spent as a teacher, principal, coach and supervisor.   He served as the Catahoula Parish Superintendent of Education for the remaining thirty-two years. 

Other areas of service included membership on the AASA Executive Council of Louisiana Teachers Association, two terms as president of the Fifth District School Superintendents Association, and membership in the Sicily Island Rotary Club.

Amanuensis Monday ~ The Stories That Should Be Told, Part 17

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

School Days...

I started to school in the first grade in 1933.  My teachers through elementary and high school were the following:

1st grade - Mrs. Jessie McClure
2nd grade - Mrs. Anita Bondurant Oliphant
3rd grade - Mrs. Lorelle Seal who later married Leon Hebert
4th grade - Mrs. Taylor
5th grade - Mrs. Mamie "Kidd" Bryan Trichel
6th grade - Mrs. Deleta Furr Peniston

Aubrey Brooks

Aubrey Brooks was the elementary school principal.  He came to Sicily Island in about 1931 or 1932.

In high school, some of the teachers were Eunice Garrison [married John Enright], Rosemary Wilkinson Crawford, Birdie Talbert Krause, Thelma Brooks, Willy Woodward and Lily Mae Seal.  Our Ag teachers were John Randall, a 3rd or 4th cousin to the John Randall who was the barber and later a school janitor, and George Durham.  Another janitor was Will Cupit from Foules.  Cameron Coney was the high school principal.

Mrs. Brooks taught Home Economics.  Miss Willy Woodward taught Chemistry and English.  Miss Lily Mae Seal taught English.  Mr. Coney taught general science.

Some of the people who taught school before I started were Florence Duncle Meyers, Daisy Spencer, Mrs. Kempe, Margaret DeWitt and Georgia Westbrook Peniston.

School started at about 8:30 and we'd go until about 10:00 and have a 15 minute recess.  We'd go back in the classroom until 12:00 then we'd have an hour break for lunch.  They didn't serve school lunch until several years after I graduated.  Kids that lived out of town had to bring their lunches.  Those of us who lived in town could walk home to eat lunch.

Classes would start back at 1:00 and we'd have another 10-15 minute break at 2:00 or 2:15.  Fourth graders and up would go back to their classrooms until 4:00 in the evening.  

Kids in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades got out of classes at 2:00 and were allowed to play on the school grounds until 4:00.  That's where I got to know people and made friends.  We had some great times.  Some of my classmates in 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades were Jarvis Cloy, T. J. Johnson, Ray Flowers, Benny Causey, Cary Francis and Lonnie Stringer.  

I can still see all those faces.  Some have gone on before us.  Those still living don't live around here.  One girl I started first grade with, Mary Nell Benge, still lives here.  She married Gordon Higgins.  That's the only classmate I have left here on the Island.

Cameron Coney

There was lots of discipline and order when I was in school.  We used to have to line up and march to our classrooms.  If you got out of line, you were in trouble.  The boys got whippings.  The girls got paddlings in grammar school but they didn't get whippings in high school; they got yelled at.  

Yes, we had whippings back in those days.  There was no law that said there had to be witnesses to the whippings.  Mr. Coney and Mr. Brooks would pick you up and tear your back end up!  Both of them could really do it, too!  Mr. Coney whipped the grown boys in high school.  

In fact, he whipped me and several more boys while we were practicing marching in for graduation.  I forget what we did.  We got demerits for something we didn't do.  If you got so many demerits, you got a whipping.  We had finished all our classes but he gave us a whipping anyway.  He didn't play with us either.  He gave us a real whipping with a big ole barber's leather strap they used to sharpen straight razors.  It sounded like a gun going off when he'd hit you.  It felt worse than that!  We could use some of that discipline and order back in our schools today.

My graduating class, the class of 1944, was the only class that never had a graduation ceremony.  We practiced lining up and marching for a few of days.

One day Mr. Coney came in while we were practicing and asked us to all take a seat.  He told us there was a child with a case of spinal meningitis down in Foules.  He said school was being closed immediately by the Health Department.  

Two or three of the girls asked if we couldn't go ahead with the graduation ceremony and have only our families there.  Graduation was only a few days away.  Mr. Coney said, "No public gatherings."  So we left school about fifteen minutes after he gave us that message.

They mailed us our diplomas the next week.  The day we got that news and left school was the last time I saw several of the girls I had gone to school with.  I saw them sitting there in that gym and fifteen minutes later they were gone and I was gone.  We never met again.  That was 47 years ago.

Note:  Parts 1-16 of 'The Stories That Should Be Told' can be found in the Tags List on the right-hand side of the blog.

Friday's Faces From the Past ~ Thelma Mitchell Brooks

Thelma Mitchell Brooks

1908-1995

Wife of Aubrey L. Brooks

Mother of 

Pat, Craig and Nan Brooks

Home Movies ~ Street Scenes in Sicily Island - Early 1960s

Some of the people you'll see in this video:

Katie Harris (m. Cameron Coney)

Katherine "Kitty" McNair (m. Marvin Nolen, Jr.)

Mary Nell Benge (m. Gordon Higgins)

Earle York Krause

Henry Krause

Anita Bondurant Oliphant

Thelma Brooks (m. Aubrey Brooks)

Nan Brooks

Craig Brooks

Joy Miller (m. Gordon Vaught)

Lily Mae Seal

Howard Wynn

Pauline Fairbanks (m. Carey Fairbanks)

Lillian Young (m. O. G. Wynn, Jr.)

Wednesday's Child - John Ferris Brooks, Jr.

John Ferris Brooks, Jr.

Born on February 3, 1966

Son of

John Ferris Brooks, Sr. and Lucille McCarty

Died on February 5, 1966

Buried in the Old Pine Hill Cemetery

Sicily Island, Catahoula Parish, Louisiana

Amanuensis Monday ~ The Stories That Should Be Told, Part 29

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

The ladies here in the village started a little Bridge club in the early to mid-1930s.  There were about twelve women in the club.  They would play every week at somebody's house.  

Allye Steele Edmonds playing Bridge

There would be a first prize for the one who made the highest score. The booby prize went to the one who came in second.  The lady who was the hostess for the day gave out the prizes.  My mother was a great Bridge player.  The other ladies said she was one of the best.

I went with my mother everywhere.  Wherever you saw Allye, you saw Little Bruce.  She took me to all the Bridge games.  I especially liked going to the Bridge games because they always had refreshments.  I made sure I got in on all the refreshments.

The ladies in the Bridge club were Kathryn Benedict [Charlie] Smith, Wardie Reeves [Gus] Krause, my mother, Birdie Talbert [Oscar] Krause, Georgia Westbrook [Henry] Peniston, Willie Woodward, Isabel Enright [Melvin] Foster, Lela Tarver [Enos] Jackson, Earle York [Henry] Krause, Henry Brown [Zeb, Jr.] York, Thelia Huff [Albert Earl] Krause, Dorothy Gordon, Lilla Sorg [Tom] Enright and I believe Katie Harris [Cameron] Coney.

In playing Bridge, one of the players would bid.  If another player didn't think that player could make it, they would double the bid.  The player making the original bid could re-double the bid. That made the score higher. 

Mrs. Wardie Krause was known for doubling.  They called her Doubling Dora.  I think my mother gave her that name.

Playing Bridge

I watched them play many a day for hours and hours. Later on, in the early 1940s, my mother started playing Bridge up at Uncle Tom Enright's house with Uncle Tom and Mrs. Lilla and sometimes their daughter, Isabel Foster.  Other times, old man Zeb York would play with them.

I never got to play Bridge on a regular basis.  If somebody was late or didn't show up, they would let me play.

The men played checkers and dominoes.

Mr. Buck Smith had a checker board on a bench in front of his store.  Mr. Buck loved to play checkers.  Mr. Willie Benge was a great checker player.  The colored people liked to play checkers but they called it pool checkers.  You could jump all the way across the board, back and forth.  

Little Harry Jenkins, who we called "old folks", was the mail carrier.  He carried the mail in the mornings and in the evenings.  He would hang around town between those times.  Sometimes he helped Mr. Buck in his store.  He was always there on the street and would play pool checkers. Willie Cooper, who we called "Blue", would play pool checkers with Little Harry Jenkins.

There was a domino table right beside Mr. Whitlock's barbershop.  From early morning until dark, there would be men sitting out there playing dominoes.  John Fairbanks, Vernon Whitlock and I would sit out there and watch them play.  We got to be good domino players.  

John Fairbanks and I watched them for hours.  If we caught the table empty with no grown men there, we would play.  If the men showed up, we'd have to quit playing and let the men play. Every once in a while they would let us play. 

I've got to tell this story.

One day, John and I wandered up town barefooted and were playing dominoes and here came Mr. Willie Benge to town.  Mr. Rufus Knight was across the street at the filing station.  They both headed to the domino table.  I guess they felt bad about breaking up our game so they suggested that John and I play them in a game.  I can just see Mr. Willie Benge laughing now.

John and I were partners against Mr. Willie Benge and Mr. Rufus Knight.  Mr. Rufus was a great domino player.  Mr. Willie was one of those who studied and concentrated on the game.  Players got seven dominoes a piece and after two or three plays or rounds, Mr. Willie would almost know what was in everybody's hand; who had what and who didn't have what.

In this game, Mr. Willie was playing ahead of me.  He had already figured out the dominoes that I didn't have and he knew I didn't have the 5x4 by the way we had played the first two or three rounds.  He played me wide open to a count knowing I didn't have the 5x4.  I'd show up with the 5x4 and score 15 or 20 points.  

Mr. Rufus was also keeping up with who had what.  He knew John Fairbanks didn't have the 6x4 because he had been opened to that play before and didn't play it.  John would show up with the 6x4 and score.

The game went on and on.  Mr. Whitlock caught up with his barbering and came out to watch. Other domino players began to show up.  They were all anxious to get the table but that game was going on and John and I were beating Mr. Willie and Mr. Rufus.  

Carey Fairbanks

Those other men were whooping and laughing.  Boy, Mr. Willie never cracked a smile.  He never quit studying and humming.  Mr. Rufus was just desperate.  He was mad.  We were just tearing them up.  All those men knew that John and I were pretty good players.

After a while, here came one of John's older brothers, Carey Fairbanks.  He was about four years older than us.  Carey stood there and watched us play. All of a sudden, Carey yelled, "Them suckers are passing the dominoes under the table!"  He had caught us.

What was happening was John wasn't supposed to have the 6x4.  Mr. Rufus played him safe for that, he thought.  I had the 6x4 and put it between my toes and passed it to John under the table.  John did the same for me on the 5x4.

We'd been playing for an hour or more.  I'll never forget the looks on the faces of Mr. Willie Benge and Mr. Rufus Knight as we played.  They had the darnedest looks on their faces.  They just couldn't figure out how two little boys were beating them.

Later on, the men had domino parties.  They would invite different people to their houses and usually played late in the evenings or at night.  

After I got grown, I started playing dominoes with the older men.  We didn't have a domino table up town anymore but at least once a week someone had a domino party at their house.  

One night, Mr. Claude Enright was having a domino party at his house and somebody at the last minute told him they couldn't come that evening.  Mr. Claude asked me to play.  He knew I played.  After that, when they needed a fill-in, they would call me.  I got to be a regular at only twenty-five years old; playing with men who were sixty-five and seventy years old.  We would start at about six in the evening and play until ten or eleven at night.

Cameron Coney

I played with Price Wilkinson, Claude Enright, Cameron Coney, Aubrey Brooks, T. J. Peniston, Ed Stephens and Simon Meyers.  Goodness, they enjoyed those games!  I know that Mr. T. J., Mr. Price and Mr. Claude would have rather played dominoes than eat!  They thoroughly enjoyed it. They didn't enjoy it any more than I did.  I'd hear we were going to play that evening and I would just be excited.

Several years ago, Mr. Price Wilkinson who was in his early 90s had been playing with Mr. Brooks, Mr. Dent and Mr. Garland Furr.  Mr. Dent died and Simon Meyers started back playing with them then quit.  Mr. Price asked me to start playing with them again.  

Price Wilkinson

Every Thursday night we'd meet up at Mr. Price's house and play dominoes.  It ended up with me and Mr. Price playing Mr. Garland Furr and Little Zeb York, old man Zeb York's grandson.  We played just like we had in the past.  There would be some hot competition.  We'd laugh at each other, argue with each other, complain and make excuses.

I remember one night Mr. Price and I were beating them real bad.  We must have played fifteen games that night and we had won about twelve of the games.  Mr. Price was just a laughing.  He would get almost hysterical.  I can just see him rubbing his hands together, clapping and laughing.  

As everybody got ready to leave, I called out to Little Zeb to tell him he had left his hat.  He came back in the house and said he didn't wear a hat.  Oh man, Mr. Price Wilkinson laughed!  I had made Little Zeb come back inside for his hat and he hadn't even worn one.

Aubrey Brooks

Mr. Brooks and Mr. Coney told me about the time they had been out at Mr. Price Wilkinson's house some years before to play dominoes.  Mr. Price was on the losing end of the game.  Of course, that wasn't funny to him. He didn't like to lose.  

They got to the door, getting ready to go home and Mr. Price almost pushed them out the door. Just as the door closed a huge down pour of rain began.  They said it was like he just pushed them out in the rain because they had beaten him at dominoes.

I wouldn't give a flip for playing dominoes with just anybody.  Playing with that bunch of men who were all older than me was just something I really enjoyed.  I miss them.  

Mr. Price Wilkinson would have been 100 years old on July 3rd.  He died last winter [1990] and didn't quite make the 100.

All of them are gone now.  I miss my old domino partners.  I sure do.

Note:  Parts 1-28 of 'The Stories That Should Be Told' can be found in the Tags List on the right-hand side of the blog.

Catahoula Parish Superintendents of Education, 1909-1985

Lest We Forget

Catahoula Parish Superintendents of Education, 1909-1985

Compliments of:

W. A. Book – Clerk of Court

Bruce A. Edmonds – Registrar of Voters

Sue Manning – Deputy Registrar of Voters

Jacob W. Carter, 1909
J. C. Hardin, 1909-1913
J. K. Stone, 1913-1917
Howard W. Wright, 1917-1941
Charles Orville Elkins, 1941-13 Apr 1943
Aubrey L. Brooks, 14 Apr 1943-1973
Kelly N. Breithaupt, 1973-1978
Sam E. Dale, 1978-1985
L. Keith Guice, 1985


Pictured below: York Sheppard-Enterpirse School Board Member(seated); Standing LtoR:  Bruce Edmonds-Sicily Island School Board Member, W. C. Speights-Sicily Island Coach, Joe Raymond Peace-Sicily Island Coach, Aubrey L. Brooks-Catahoula Parish Superintendent of Education 

Photograph taken circa 1964

1953 Campaign to Raise Highway 15

The following article appeared in the September 6, 1953 edition of the Monroe Morning World:

Transcription:

Campaign Begun To Raise Hwy. 15

JONESVILLE, Sept. 5 (Special)
A campaign to raise highway 15 southeast of Sicily Island is being started by the Sicily Island Rotary Club with assistance of the Catahoula parish school board and police jury.

Official bodies and civic groups throughout northeast Louisiana will be invited to participate in the campaign because of the importance of the highway as the most direct route to Baton Rouge and New Orleans.  Highway 15, as presently constructed, is frequently made impassable by backwater, necessitating miles of detours.  It is the route of buses operating between Little Rock, Ark., and New Orleans.

Wednesday morning, at the suggestion of William Peck, police juror and president of the Sicily Island Rotary Club, the police jury passed a resolution asking the state department of highways to raise the level of the road.  The jury also voted to write other police juries in the northeastern section of the state, seeking their help in the campaign.

Aubrey Brooks, superintendent of schools and a member of the Sicily Island Rotary Club, said he anticipates similar action by the parish school board and that he will write to other school boards in the area urging that they help.

Approximately 3.5 miles of road between Sicily Island and Foules has been flooded numerous times in the past several years.  Brooks said completion of drainage projects north of the area has aggravated the condition.

Sports Center Saturday: Catahoula-Franklin Parish All-Star Basketball Team, 1932

The 1932 Catahoula-Franklin Parish Basketball All-Star team was comprised of former high school and college stars.

Team members included the following:

K. Brooks - Manifest
R. Swayze - Jonesville
Pat Gibson - Harrisonburg
S. Gibson - Harrisonburg
B. Trichel - Harrisonburg
S. Trichel - Harrisonburg
Ernest Foster - Wisner
Beverly Faulk - Wisner
A. L. Brooks - Sicily Island
Simon Meyers - Sicily Island
Sprague DeWitt - Sicily Island

The All-Star team was formed in November of 1932 in advance of meeting the Brown Paper Mill basketball team in the Sicily Island High School gymnasium on December 2.

Monroe News Star - 11/22/1932

The Brown Paper Mill basketball team, known as the Safety Firsts, was comprised of players employed at the paper mill in West Monroe, Louisiana.   They were part of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) which was a non-profit, multi-sport organization founded in 1888.

The 1932 team manager and player, Cary Phillips, later went on to coach basketball at the Northeast Center in Monroe. Other Safety Firsts team members were Lindy Hood, Ray Roden, Stone, Lawson, Evans, McNeely, Broom and Dowden.

Unfortunately, I have been unable to locate any articles references the outcome of the December 2, 1932 game.  If anyone has more information on members of either team or the outcome of the 1932 game, please leave a comment below or email me at rootsfromthebayou@gmail.com.

Home Movies ~ Homecoming Parade, 1968

The following clip was taken during the last filmed Homecoming Parade in 1968.  You'll even catch a few glimpses of 'Rice the Tiger' who was donated to the school by the parents of Henry and Carolyn Rice.

Some of the many faces you'll see in this clip:

Marguerita Carter Krause
Joy Cotten Ashley
Lynn Evans
Tommie Jean Beatty and Brian
Keith Guice
Raymond and Sue Peace
Aubrey Brooks
Bruce A. Edmonds
Jean Crawford
Carma Polk
Judy Wells Carpenter
Mary Edmonds
Thelma Brooks
Kenny Barron
Carroll Barron
Richard Price
Wayne Coleman
Allen Garrett
Danny Myers
Donald Ashley
Homer Thompson
Robert Price
Steve Jackson

Sicily Island Football ~ The Beginning

On December 2, 1947 the Sicily Island Rotary Club met and unanimously adopted a resolution regarding the establishment of a football program at Sicily Island High School.  The Rotary Club's resolution was based on their willingness to "undertake and guarantee to furnish a playing field and full equipment for 25 high school boys". 

Below are copies of the Sicily Island Rotary Club's letter to the Catahoula Parish School Board, the School Board's response to the Rotary Club, and a sketch of the school property with the football field included. 

Transcription of the Sicily Island Rotary Club letter, dated December 3, 1947:

Dear Sir:

The School Board members and Superintendent Aubrey Brooks brought to the attention of the Rotary Club in Sicily Island the fact that the School Board had voted and appropriated funds to place an additional teacher in the Sicily Island School and that the teacher could be a football coach.  As you know, the Rotary Club is interested in getting a football team started in the Sicily Island High School.

Sicily Island Schools, Part 2

From Sicily Island:  A Partial History, compiled by Mickie Smith:

Sicily Island Central School (1912-1923)

On January 7, 1911, the Catahoula Parish School Board petitioned to consolidate all Ward Two schools.  A committee was appointed to seek a location for a central industrial school.  This school was located about two miles from Florence on the 'Old Steele Place'.

Old Steele Place, 2011

The school was a two-story wooden structure that housed grades one through eleven, the total amount needed to obtain a high school diploma at that time.

The curriculum included English, science, mathematics, history, home economics and Latin.  The children walked to school awhile, carrying their lunch in a 'tin pail'.  Mrs. Lucille Steele Ogden said, "Oh, in the cold weather, my feet got so cold!".  

After some time, the families of the children who lived in Florence each paid a certain amount and hired James W. (Buck) Smith to drive a wagon and take them to school.  It was a full wagon load.  There were railings on the sides with benches along them, but no covering overhead.  Often times the wagon got stuck in the mud and the larger boys got out of the wagon and pushed to help free the wheels.

Mrs. Ogden said she remembered one time it rained so hard they stopped at a church and everyone went inside until the rain was over.  The school board later took over the payment for the wagon driver and hired several more drivers with wagons.  Some of the drivers were Mr. Squyers, Mr. Guice, Mr. Egloff, Mr. John Knight, John D. Boyette, Jack Smith, Mr. Keenan and Mr. Brooks.  These various drivers had different routes for hauling the children. 

The Jeff Franklin Roberts Family

Joshua Roberts was born on July 21, 1795 in Albermarle County, Virginia.  On November 29, 1827, he married Annie Parks Little in Jackson County, Georgia.  Annie was born on March 14, 1807 in Butts County, Georgia.

Joshua Roberts died on July 21, 1876 in Cleburne County, Alabama.  Annie Parks Little Roberts died on March 7, 1885.  Both are buried in the Camp Creek Baptist Church Cemetery in Oak Level, Cleburne, Alabama.  (Editor's note:  tombstone photograph is courtesy of Mary Ann Baggett Ferguson at FindAGrave.com)

The following children were born to the marriage of Joshua and Annie Little Roberts:

James L. W. "Jim" Roberts, 1829 – 1911
William Columbus Roberts, 1832 – 1914
Atharilla Elizabeth Roberts, 1833 – 1908
Dr. David Parks Roberts, 1835 – 1911
Mary Ann "Polly" Roberts, 1837 – 1913
Nancy Jane Roberts, 1839 – 1901
Joseph Little Roberts, 1840 – 1935
M Roberts, 1841 –
Thomas Jefferson Roberts, 1843 – 1911
Robert W. Roberts, 1845 – 1870
Sarah A. Roberts, 1847 – 1914 

Sports Center Saturday ~ Coach W. C. Speights, 1927-2014

Rest in Peace, Coach

Seated:  Shepard; Standing (LtoR):  Edmonds, Speights, Peace, Brooks

Friday's Faces From the Past ~ Sicily Island Teachers

Front Row/Seated (LtoR):

Eva McKay Mount

Anita Bondurant Oliphant

Irma Stutson Enright

2nd Row/Seated (LtoR):

Sophie Lee Crawford Haley

Thelma Mitchell Brooks

3rd Row/Standing (LtoR):

Rosemary Wilkinson Crawford

Joseph Raymond Peace

Darris Lottie Chambers

Sports Center Saturday ~ 1962 Tiger Football

Top Row (LtoR):  Mike Haley, Craig Brooks, Joe Peace
Middle Row (LtoR):  Kenneth Bird, Jerry Wells, Bill Stubbs
Bottom Row (LtoR):  Marvin Nolen, Bobby Ashley, Joe Gibson

Elias W. and Sarah Ann Mathis Watson Family

Elias W. Watson and Sarah Ann Mathis were married in Marion County, Georgia on December 28, 1854.

By 1860, Elias, Sarah and three of their six children were living in Jefferson County, Alabama.  Also, note that Elias' brother, Wilson Watson, is listed as living in the same household.

The 1870 U.S. Census shows Elias, Sarah and four of their children living in Harrisonburg, Catahoula Parish, Louisiana.

Elias and Sarah Mathis Watson died prior to 1880 and after the birth of their sixth child, Charles William in 1872.

The 1880 U.S. Census shows their three youngest children living in Ward 8 of Catahoula Parish with Elias' brother, Wilson Watson and his wife Nettie Sherwood Watson.

The dates of death and burial locations for Elias W. Watson and Sarah Ann Mathis Watson are unknown at this time.

The following children were born to the marriage of Elias and Sarah Watson:

Julieta, 1856-before 1870; location of burial is unknown at this time.

Thomas Napoleon, 1857-1933 (m. Fannie L. Morris, 1861-1921); both are buried in the Nolley Memorial Cemetery in Jena, LaSalle Parish, Louisiana.  Tombstone photographs were taken by FindAGrave member, Chiquita Richison Thompson.

Children born to the marriage of Thomas Napolean Watson and Fannie L. Morris:

Henry Elias, 1878-1946 (m. Mary Lena Higgins, 1880-1976)
Mollie O., 1884-1961 (m. John Dunlap, 1880-1944)
Carrie Alice, 1888-1957 (m. 1. F. F. Henry, 1880-1956; 2. P.W. Kennedy, 1878-1952)
Frances Lea, 1890-1979 (m. Stephen Leonard Richey, 1886-1935)
Wade Eldon, 1893-1974 (m. Cora M. Kirby, 1894-1974)
Zenobia, 1895-1985 (m. George C. Coleman, 1887-1949)
Thomas Owen, 1900-1975 (m. Willie Howell, 1902-1990)

Terridell Lee, 1859-1898 (m. Edward Farris Keenan, 1849-1926); both are buried in the Old Pine Hill Cemetery near Sicily Island, Catahoula Parish, Louisiana.

Children born to the marriage of Terridell Lee Watson and Edward Farris Keenan:

Joel Elias, 1877-1966 (m. 1. Roxanna Summers, 1875-1902; 2. Merzie Harmon, 1882-1957)
Lizzie Lee, 1880-before 1900, (m. Charles W. Mann)
Eugene Seymore, 1883-1893
Margaret "Maggie" B., 1887-1972 (m. Wilson A. Squyres, 1887-1961)
Charlie E., 1890-1894
Anna Pearl, 1892-1993 (m. John Friley Brooks, 1886-1942)

Wade Lampkins, 1860-1918 (m. Emma L. Hardin, 1868-after 1920); location of burials is unknown at this time.

Children born to the marriage of Wade Lampkins Watson and Emma L. Hardin:

Jessie C., 1887-1950
Willie H., 1889
Sarah Ann "Annie", 1891-1969 (m. Robert Leo McCarty, 1890-1962)
Thomas Napoleon, 1893-1959 (m.1. Lydia; 2. Minnie; 3. Permelia Tarver, 1873-1935)
Ida M., 1895-?
Roy H., 1897-? (m. Eola A., 1904-?)
Mary, 1900-?
Chester W. "Jack", 1901-1988 (m. Charlcy M. Ellis, 1906-1975)
Velda H., 1903-1986 (m. Broadus)

Nettie, 1868-1946 (m. Francis "Frank" Marion Smith, 1867-1953); both are buried in the Old Pine Hill Cemetery near Sicily Island, Catahoula Parish, Louisiana.

Children born to the marriage of Nettie Watson and Francis "Frank" Marion Smith:

Isom James, 1887-1972 (m. Otis McNair, 1891-1976)
Jennie Smith, 1888-1963 (m. Shelleah Polk Cantrell, 1885-1937)
Mollie Blackmon, 1890-1970 (m. Fredrick Timothy Chambless, 1888-1975)
Jessie, 1892-1988 (m. Thomas Jefferson Peniston, 1889-1977)
Clayton Francis, 1894-1970 (m. Willie Mae Sapp, 1900-1972)
William Edward "Buck", 1896-1964 (m. Mildred M. Harris, 1898-1975)
Sadye, 1898-1957 (m. Marvin Bishop Nolen, Sr., 1894-1976)
Sidney, 1898-1968 (m. Lillian Vic, 1900-1963)

Charles William, 1872-1953 (m. 1. A. Carriece Kirby, 1867-1912; 2. Sallie B. Cotton, 1888-1976); all are buried in the Harrisonburg Cemetery in Harrisonburg, Catahoula Parish, Louisiana.  Tombstone photographs were taken by FindAGrave member, Eve Merryman.

Children born to the marriage of Charles William Watson and Addie Carriece Kirby:

Vera, 1895-1956 (m. Meredith)
Edith, 1895-1974 (m. Earl H. Bland)
Rowena, 1897-1905
Hoover Monroe, 1899-1953 (m. Daisy Bland)
Mirva Blanche, 1906-1987 (m. James A. Lindsey, 1906-1979)

Children born to the marriage of Charles William Watson and Sallie Cotton:

Doris, 1915-1979 (m. Simon Meyers, 1912-1980)
Inez, 1916-? (m. Suarez)
Fannie T., 1917-before 1953
Charles William, Jr., 1919-?
Sallie D., 1922-?

Talented Tuesday ~ Alice Bell Kirby

Anniston Star, Anniston AL - March 25, 1938

Transcription: 

This small, East Louisiana town today buzzed with reports of the supernatural powers of 12-year-old Alice Bell Kirby, who hundreds swear "talks" with a table and commands a ghostly hand that writes answers to her questions.

Alice Bell, seventh granddaughter of a seventh child on the paternal side, today had achieved her greatest evidence of weird powers, Mrs. Leon Kirby, the mother, reported.  The child has become proficient in mathematics, formerly the "tough" subject in her seventh grade classes.

Mrs. Kirby said her daughter discovered the strange powers by accident while playing with a group of friends.  The children tired of dominoes and decided to "play at making the table walk," Mrs. Kirby related.  They were terrified when the table actually "walked" at Alice Bell's command, the mother said.

Among the feats the child has been able to perform, according to Mrs. Kirby, were:

• To get a "yes" or "no" answer to questions from the direction in which a dining room table tilted or tapped, apparently of its own accord

• To make the table rise as high as three feet off the floor

• To make the floor vibrate at her command

• To make doors open or close without touching them

• To make a pencil, without human motivation, scribble answers to her questions

• To make a piano lift at her request; to make the instrument play a tune, unaided by human hands