The following transcription is from a series of recordings my father made in the early 1990s:
Naming some of the oldest people living when I was young and first started remembering. Back in the early 1930s.
Mrs. Scott (Emily Mason Turpin Scott). She was the grandmother of Marable "Mack" Harris and Mrs. Katie Coney (Katie Archer Drake Harris Coney). I remember seeing old lady Scott one time. I must have been between 4 and 5 years old. She was in her bed. For some reason I was down at Mrs. Harris' house who was Mrs. Scott's daughter. Mrs. Scott was living with her daughter. Mrs. Scott was born in about 1840. If she was living now (1991) she would be about 150 years old.
Mrs. Laura Harris (Laura Archer Scott Harris). She was the daughter of Mrs. Scott and the mother of Marable "Mack" and Mrs. Katie. I remember Mrs. Laura. I didn't know Mr. Harris. He died before I was born. Mrs. Laura had three boys and three girls. The boys were Mack, Iverson "I-Bo" and Wilmer. The girls were Mildred (married Buck Smith), Katie (married Cameron Coney) and Hat.
Coney
Hat and Mrs. Katie are the only two living and they live together. Hat's name was actually Laura Harris. For as long as I've known her, everybody has always called her Hat. Mr. Coney came here to teach and be the principal in about 1923. He was the principal on up to the early 1950s when he took a job with the State Department of Education. They had one child, a son named Billy. I remember when he was born in 1936.
Mrs. Krause (Caroline Rotham Krause). She was married to Gotleib Krause and was the mother of Henry, Oscar, Gus, Lina, Mary and Gertrude who I mentioned in an earlier recording. I remember Mrs. Krause living in town with her son Oscar and his wife Birdie. I never had a conversation with her but I saw her many times. Oscar lived beside Alvin and Olga Seal and I would be at their house playing with their daughters, Quida and Juanita.
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| Old home sites of Alvin Seal and Oscar Krause |
Mrs. Peniston (Anna Doniphan Peniston). About a year before she died, I was up at her house working on an outside pump for the electric co-op. It was a beautiful fall day and she was outside walking around. She stopped and talked with me for just a few minutes. I had seen her all my life but I had never had a conversation with her. She was born around 1861 or so and died in 1960. She was married to Mr. Horace Peniston. Their children were Horace, Jr., T. J., Henry, John, Mary and Ruth. Horace, Jr. died a young man. I heard some of the older people talk about him. Seems like he took the Typhoid Fever, Pneumonia or something and died a very young man. Mary died before I was born. She had a daughter named Mary, also. She was raised by Mrs. Anna Peniston after her mother died.
Mr. Henry didn't have any children. He was married to Georgia Westbrook. Mrs. Georgia lived to about 96 years old and died last year. She came from up around Arcadia to teach school here. The same year she came to Sicily island, Birdie Talbert came here from the same area to teach. Birdie married Oscar Krause.
Mr. John had one child, Wanda, who married Charles McNair. She is still living somewhere down below Alexandria. I have a picture of me when I was about three years old sitting on a Shetland pony. Hat Harris standing there holding me up in the saddle. That pony belonged to Wanda Peniston. She came riding by here and all the children were wanting to ride the pony. Hat must have put me up on the pony and somebody took a picture. Right out in front of our old house. Mr. Johns' 2nd wife, Deleta Furr, is still living. She's up in her eighties.
Laura "Hat" Harris and my father
Mr. T. J. had three boys and one girl. The boys were named Horace, Little T. J. and Frank. The daughter was named Inez. Frank died from an accidental gunshot wound when he was just a teenager. Horace and Inez are still living. Horace lives over around Alexandria. Inez lives up in Detroit, Michigan.
Brigadier General Zeb York
Mr. Zeb York. I knew him real well and had many conversations with him. He was born about 1862. His mother, Sophia Peniston York, was a sister to Mrs. Anna Doniphan Peniston's husband, Horace. Mr. Zeb was named Zeublon after his uncle, Zebulon York, who lived over in Concordia Parish and was a Brigadier General in the Confederate Army. I believe his last command was as a Division Commander in the army of Northern Virginia. Robert E. Lee's army.
Mrs. Emily Scott and Mrs. Caroline Krause would be about 150 years old if they were alive now (1991). Mrs. Anna Peniston and Mr. Zeb York would be about 130 years old.
A lot of old family names have left the Island. They either moved away, died out, or only the girls of the families remain. Some of the names that are no longer here in town:
Yancey
Saltzman
Whitlock
Benge
Bourke
Garner
McLelland
Woodward
Hall
Denham
Chambers
Mobley
Bryan
Shields
Winstead
Duncle
Gordon
Kempe
Randall
Disch
Chambless
The Steele family name is gone. Grandpa Steele, my mother's father, had all girls.
Note: Parts 1-11 of 'The Stories That Should Be Told' can be found in the Tags List on the right-hand side of the blog.
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