Life on Byron Street: The Fruit Stand

Right across a gravel drive from my father’s hardware and garden store sat Tony’s Fruit Stand.  This was very convenient for a kid like me.  I used to walk over to their counter and plop my dime down on it and ask for “10 cents worth of grapes.”  They weighed them out for me, put them in a plastic bag, and off I’d be on my way back to my dad’s store.  Some times I would get hot, boiled peanuts which they put in a foil-lined white paper bag to keep them hot for me. The big, soft, salty ones were the best!

Tony’s Fruit Stand always had fresh fruits and vegetables, but they also had a “cold drink” machine right near the front.  It had fruit flavored “cokes” in it that I preferred over the Coca-colas in my dad’s drink machine. So I’d go there often to get a Fanta strawberry, orange, or grape drink.  Their machine was the type that had a tall, slender glass door on the left that held the bottles in individual compartments; each locked in place with a gate around the neck of the bottle.  When the coins were dropped in the slot, the gate would release so that the bottle could be pulled out.  I can still hear that clinking sound.

Mr. Tony Pizzolato had a cold-storage room where he kept some of his watermelons to market them as “ice-cold.”  And they were!  My dad and he had a friendly competition to see who could come closest to guessing the weight of a watermelon just by holding it in their arms.  I’m not sure if my dad ever got one for free if he guessed the correct weight, but he did win bragging rights!

In the fall of the year Tony’s Fruit Stand would get in a large load of pumpkins which would be stacked in a large pile out in front.  One October day in 1970, Art Kleiner, the photographer for the State Times and Morning Advocate newspaper in Baton Rouge, was driving around town looking for a human interest photo for the Halloween edition’s front page.  He dropped by the fruit stand when he saw the big pile of pumpkins out front.  He inquired at the counter if they knew of a school-aged girl who could pose in her Halloween costume while sitting in the pumpkins.  They immediately recommended that he go next door and ask my parents about me.  I was eight years-old at the time.  My mom brought me back home quickly and we threw together a homemade witch outfit, grabbed our household broom, bought a witch’s hat at the Pak-a-Sak down the street and headed back to the fruit stand — all in about 20 minutes!  It was great fun!Not long after this, Tony’s began selling seafood — fresh and boiled.  When that branch of the business took off, he and his sons rented an old gas station up Plank Road to expand this side of the business.  Today his children own and operate Tony’s Seafood Market and Deli, one of the largest seafood markets in the state of Louisiana.  They also produce “Louisiana Fish Fry” brand products.  What started as humble beginnings has turned into a very successful operation.

The original stand is not on Plank Road anymore, but I’ll always remember original Tony’s Fruit Stand with fond memories.

1941 (Nov. 1 – Nov. 15)

[...the continuing 1941 diary of Sicily Island, Louisiana native, Bea Bryan Denham. References to WWII are in red.]

November 1, Saturday

First frost of the season.  Cold and clear

Letters from Lil and Edward.  The men came and hooked up the heater, but made a mess of the hot plate. Earl came in, said “Let’s go home,” – he wasn’t allowed to work Sunday, so home we went right away.  We got to singing “Old Black Joe” and I thought of C.L., and how he loved to sing the old songs and it ended my happy mood. The dead would not like casting such shadows, but somehow sadness comes easily to me lately, happy moments are always followed by sad thoughts.  It was so good to get home again and find everybody all right.

C.L. Guice (my grandfather and Bea’s first cousin) and family on a trip to the Smoky Mountains (May 1941, four months before he died)

November 2, Sunday

Sunny and warmer

Earl and Edward went huntin, Kidd came up pretty early.  We ate dinner at Mamma’s went home and to Julia’s, got off at 4:15.  The woods are still green and pretty, there’s been no frost at home.  We got turnips mustard and radishes out of Joe’s garden pecans, etc. and Mamma fixed us milk and butter.l  I was awfully glad Earl got ot go home, it’s his first visit in nearly two months.  John Crawford said he was coming near the end of the week.  We got back to Minden at 7:45, and to bed we go, but everything is surely messed up for tomorrow.

November 3, Monday

Sunny, pleasant

Today has been a busy day with me, I moved things around to get the heater a safe place, washed, ironed, mopped and worked hard generally.  I’m tired right now, but Earl is shaving, so I guess we will get to bed soon.  Velma wrote Fery had her operation and is doing very well.  Letter from Momma, too.  Earl played dominoes with Walter til I was too sleepy to think.  I helped him, and he beat Walter two games straight.  Edna parched peanuts, so we ate during the game, too.  Mrs. Boyett was here awhile.

November 4, Tuesday

Threatening rain, not cold.

I suppose this has been a day just like my days usually are.  Earl went back to the dentist and Charlie and Daisy came over and stayed awhile.  Germany has torpedoed another boat, the day before the sinking of the Reuben James. This must be about 12 so far.  I think they got 22 in the last war before we went in.  Just anything can happen now, and it seems to me we are going to have to fight in the Atlantic and Pacific simultaneously.  This war keeps one’s spirits at the lowest ebb constantly.  I wrote Mamma, Velma and Lil. [Woody Guthrie wrote a song titled "The Sinking of the Reuben James".  Although Bea mentions other boats being sunk by Germany, the Reuben James was the first U.S. Navy ship sunk in WWII.]

November 5, Wednesday

Cold and rainy

We got no mail today, but the package came, and I think we are all “heeled” for winter.  Earl has everything he will need now, and Jo Anne has all but a nice dress.  I didn’t get anything except a slack suit, it hasn’t come yet, and some ski boots.  If we don’t go anywhere I’m all right, but Earl really needs a suit and I an outfit.  It probably would be good policy to buy now, by next winter we are sure to be at war, and probably can’t buy good things any more.  We read the Post, –“The Phantom Filly, and will go to bed early.

November 6, Thursday

Clear, windy and cold.

Today has been a Jonah to Jo Anne, — I put two sweet sandwiches in her lunch and two meat ones in her Daddy’s; she forgot to take her gym shoes; she lost a tassel off her new boots; worst of all, got an F on physical education on an otherwise grand report.  I tried to tell her it didn’t matter in the least but she can’t bear to have it there.  Earl has felt badly all day – earache.  Jo Anne forgot her homework, and when we went to get it the building was locked.  We finished reading “The Phantom Filly.”  My slacks came.  I spent most of the day at Mrs. Boyett’s taking up Earl’s new pants in the waist and letting down Jo Anne’s in the legs.

November 7, Friday

Cold, but beautifully sunny

Today is my birthday but nobody knew it until Earl happened to ask what date this was after supper, and of course I had to grin and give myself away.  We went to the bank and he and Jo Anne decided we’d have to celebrate, so we went to see “Dive Bomber” and they bought me a box of candy.  We didn’t get any mail, but I started trying to write something to try for Harper’s prize.  “My Great Aunt Jessica,” – a story of Jose’s life I intend it to be.  O how I wish I could do something worthwhile.  It is so discouraging to be always turned down, and to wish so much to accomplish something.  I got the new issue of “Time,” but haven’t had a chance to read it.

November 8, Saturday

Cold, but sunny.

Jo Anne, Mrs. Boyett and I went to town this morning, I bought groceries for the week, I hope.  It took almost all morning to get them and put them away.  Mrs. Boyett fixed a chicken for me, so I cooked it for supper, and read to Jo Anne and Earl.  We didn’t get a bit of mail.  I worked some more on my story, but I’m afraid it will be like all the other things I’ve worked so much on.  It sounds easy but it is most difficult.  Earl and Jo Anne tickled each other til I was afraid our home wouldn’t stand it any longer.

November 9, Sunday

Still cold

We were lazy today, didn’t get up til about ten, after I had got Earl to work.  Then we went to take a bath, and the water got really cold after we had soaped our heads. There was nothing to do but finish, but it wasn’t pleasant.  We took Jo Anne’s bicycle and had the tires aired, and she rode a good while.  I felt so badly I just lay down in front of the fire and read.  When Earl came we had supper and read some more.  This surely isn’t a very stirring life.  We will be regular old clods soon.

November 10, Monday

Cold but sunny

All of today I’ve tried to write, tried to complete Chapter One.  What a fake I am!  I can’t write it.  I’m only good for nothing.  I had a letter from Minnie Lea today, haven’t heard from home since we left.  When Earl came he wanted to go to Shreveport to a union meeting, asked us if we wanted to go, so we didn’t and spent the evening at Belle’s and Sidney’s.  Had an enjoyable evening. They have a pretty house, and are expecting a new baby.  Aunt Florence is going to live with them.  The baby is not any time soon.  They promised to come see us soon, she has been sick ever since she became pregnant.  Bed 10:45.

November 11, Tuesday

Warmer and sunny

Mrs. Boyett came over and made me wash my clothes at her place, but it took most of the morning.  I stopped to hear Roosevelt. [Roosevelt's Armistice Day address] We went to town and found all the stores closed, no mail delivery.  I have read over Chapter One, with intense dissatisfaction of course.  I can’t do it.  We went over and looked at some new trailers that are beauties, but of course our tent is quite good enough for us.  When Earl came Charlie drank coffee with him and they said “When Ladies Meet” was a good show, so we went.  It was full of laughs, but Joan Crawford is so vulgar and cheap looking I don’t like her shows.

November 12, Wednesday

Beautiful, but cold, cold

I fixed the clothes to iron, and cleaned up pretty well, but we decided to go to town so Mrs. Boyett and I went and got back to get the mail. We had letters from Mamma and Love.  I was so glad to get the letters.  Love said she was going to send me a cake.   I am awfully afraid I’ve lost Love, in spite of the fact that she said she’s still my Love.  But the jobs they have are most likely permanent since they’re working for C & M.  Charlie came over and showed us the plan for his new shop.  I hope he can make it work out as he hopes.

November 13, Thursday

Cold, but beautiful

Edna came over and wanted to go to town, so I wrote to Mamma and Margaret, and mailed them when we went.  After we got back we waited for the mail, and got letters from Velma and Margaret.  Margaret said they had kept Cecil on, he still likely be there until March.  I guess they won’t come on over her now because it’s so ear time for the baby to come.  Mrs. Summers is coming to stay with her.  When Earl came we decided to go to the show, and asked Daisy and Charlie.  It was “Hold Back the Dawn,” and was pretty good.  I didn’t touch the book today.  I’m afraid I can’t do anything about it.

November 14, Friday

Perfect Day

I bought next week’s groceries, put Earl’s check in the bank, and mailed letters to Minnie Lea, Velma and Julia.  Kidd and Edward sent my fountain pen, and Love sent me a birthday cake.  And was it good!  Jo Anne said what we needed now was ice cream.  It was sweet of Love to do that for me.  I cut it and made coffee, Daisy, Edna and Mrs. Boyett came over and ate some with me.  Then I gave Earl and Charlie some when they drank coffee.  We played dominoes with Charlie and Walter, and Daisy and Edna parched peanuts and made candy, so we had a right enjoyable evening.

November 15, Saturday

Sunny and warm

We cleaned up and Jo Anne read most of the day, we had good baths and washed our heads.  I sewed some.  Mrs. Boyett and Daisy were here for a while.  I wish there was something to do that is worthwhile.  Instead I wash and iron, cook and clean up, and never feel as if I‘ve done anything at all.  I read “Time” today, too.  Letter from Kidd, but not much in it.  Earl had his bath and I read to them the Post continued stories.  We are turning in early tonight since there’s nothing else to do.

Life on Byron Street: A Tale of Two Stores

Me with my Pa-pa in front of his toy store (1962)

Besides my house and yard, which were great places to play, I spent most of my time at the two stores of my father and my “Pa-pa.”  The close proximity of the stores to my house and the possibilities they afforded children with vivid imaginations made the two stores natural places to play.

My Pa-pa, W.T. Arnold, owned a toy store called “Arnold’s Toys.”  How many children get to grow up living down the street from a toy store that is owned by their grandfather?  I remember gazing at the beautiful Madame Alexander dolls that were protected behind the sliding glass doors of the display cases.  My brother and I test rode the bikes and Red Flyer wagons in the middle of the store and played with the sample “Mr. Potato Head,” “Operation,” and “Cooties” games. My sister and I played with the “Lite Brite” and “Easy-Bake Oven,” and the little toy piano like Schroeder plays in Charlie Brown.  “Mrs. Beasely” dolls sat high on a shelf over-looking our fun. One of my all-time favorite toys was the “Dancerina” doll which I begged to get one Christmas (and I did). I always remember feeling like I was the luckiest kid in the world to grow up playing in a toy store.

I often spent time visiting with one of my Pa-pa’s employee’s, Mrs. Mac (short for McBride).  She was always so nice and patient with me.  I loved helping her as she put price tags on the new toys.

One especially exciting place to play in Pa-pa’s store was in the ware room at the rear of the store.  It was a dimly-lit three-tier shelved storage room where we would imagine ourselves being on a ship, in a cave, a haunted house, or a space ship.  Two, short, painted boards that were alongside each other on the otherwise unpainted floor in the ware room always served as our trap door that would lower or lift us to a new adventure.

Hinson’s Hardware Employees — (front row, l-r) Aunt Daisy Mae Valentine, Mrs. McBride, Aunt “Boots” Edna Addison, Mrs. Nell (back left) Dale Arnold, (back right) Ray Hinson, my father.

My father, Ray Hinson, owned an adjacent hardware and garden supply store named, oddly enough, “Hinson’s Hardware and Garden Supply.”  Each spring, when the ware room had been cleared of the Christmas season’s toys, my dad would stock it full of used whiskey barrels that he would cut in half to sell as planters.  This was a great idea except for the fact that one could not walk through the ware room without getting totally drunk from the fumes.  It was quite an unusual and powerful smell for our teetotalling family’s noses.

He opened his store on my first birthday in 1963 and he remained in business in that location for the next fifteen years.  His store smelled of grass seed, nails, rubber gaskets and fertilizer.  Have you ever run your hands through a barrel of Bermuda grass seed?  Or bulk sacks of mustard seed?  It’s the nicest feeling.  It’s hard for me to go into a hardware store today without being thrust back into my childhood.

One job I had was to count the change in the old Coca-Cola machine in the back of his store.  I knew where the special key was hung. And how to unlock each compartment all the way to where the Cokes were held.  I had such responsibility!  And yes, sometimes I was allowed to get a Coke out of the machine, just for me.

Local gardeners would bring Daddy bushels of peas, sacks of tomatoes, and other vegetables from seeds or plants they had bought from him. He kept his bedding plants out in front of the store where he watered them every morning.  I still love the smell of moist soil.  At the end of everyday, he sprinkled a dark, green granular substance on the concrete floor before he swept it.  He said it was to keep the dust down.  Sometime I received the honor of sprinkling the “green stuff” on the floor.  It took me a while before I realized I was lured into a “Tom Sawyer white-wash fence” situation.  My dad was a good, honest businessman.  Everyone always said good things about him.

W.T. Arnold (front) at Ray Hinson’s Hardware and Garden Supply

My Pa-pa was a good man, too, and I don’t say that just because he let us play in his toy store.  My grandmother married him as a young widow after he had been kind to her by making sure that she and her two small children had extra ration stamps for groceries during World War II. It didn’t matter to us that he wasn’t our real grandfather, because he always treated us like his own.

I don’t remember having many conversations with him, but I do remember sitting with him in their kitchen at the counter as he spread saltines with “deviled ham” for me and him.  In the summer he would buy an ice-cold watermelon from Tony’s Fruit Stand next door and cut it on a marble slab table in his yard behind his store while we sat in Adirondack chairs waiting patiently for our slices.

He always looked old to me. He was many years my grandmother’s senior, but he never acted old.  He chewed cigars and he loved making coffee for his employees.  On cold days he and his employees took afternoon coffee breaks around the heater in the back of the store and drank the coffee that he had prepared in a French drip coffee pot on open burners in the back “ware-room.” Around Christmas he also boiled whole hams in a big pot on the same burners.  He boiled the hams with apples, bell peppers, onions, and celery.  The aroma would permeate the whole store! (I still boil my hams the same way.)

But my Pa-Pa’s store wasn’t always a toy store.  It was first a Plee-zing Food Store.  I still have the wooden meat carving table he used.  In addition to groceries he sold general store type items and “Esso” gasoline out front (Esso stood for S.O. – Standard Oil, which later became Exxon).

My Pa-pa, W.T. Arnold, standing with an employee in his Plee-zng Food Store on Plank Road (Click the photo to zoom in and read the prices on the shelves.)

My mother as a young girl with an employee in front of my Pa-pa’s Plee-zing Food Store (1944)

His old store is no longer there, but my memories of it will always be.

Life on Byron Street

My house on Byron Street (1962)

Life was good on Byron Street.  My father could walk to work every morning from our house to his store located on the corner at Plank Road. My grandmother lived down the street behind my Pa-pa’s store, which was connected to my father’s store.  The local fruit stand was next to them.  I could walk to my elementary school which was located in the next block in the opposite direction. The local park was on the far side of my school and my church was a few blocks farther.  The Winn Dixie and Delmont Village Shopping Center where we traded were  two blocks up Plank Road.

My street was teeming with kids to play with, and there were plenty of older residents around to keep an eye on us.  We would play until the street lights came on or until my mother called us home for supper with her police whistle.  I rode my bike with my sister to places many blocks away and did not think twice about my safety.  Nearly everything that was important to me was located in this small north Baton Rouge community of North Highlands. In the 1960′s and ’70′s it was a fun, safe, and pleasant place in which to grow up.

Today, many of the places I remember on Byron Street and in that community are gone or rundown.  It is sad, but I would like to create a montage of my best memories of that area in an upcoming series of posts that will give you a glimpse as to why I enjoyed living there so much. I will also share vignettes that my Mom shared with me from when she lived there in the ’40′s and ’50′s.  I know that one can never go back to the way it was, but I will do my best!

1941 (Oct. 16 – Oct. 31)

[...the continuing 1941 diary of Sicily Island, Louisiana native, Bea Bryan Denham. References to WWII are in red.]

October 16, Thursday

Rain and cloudy all day.

Today I cleaned up until twelve o’clock, washed, cleaned everything except the floor.  Daisy and Edna were going to town and asked me to go, so I did.  Daisy and I decided to fix an anniversary supper on the 30^th for Edna and her husband.  Had a letter from Mamma, she enclosed one from Minnie Lea.  Mamma wrote us a nice long one.  I hope they are all right, but I can’t help feeling uneasy and wishing I could see them.  They’re so good and so very dear to me.

October 17, Friday

Raw and rainy, better in the afternoon.

Had a long letter from Margaret, said Cecil was still at Camp Polk.  She is getting along nicely.  I do hope she has twins.  I had a horrible dream last night, all mixed up with Earl and C.L.  I bought tar paper to fix up the tent with, and, I hope, enough groceries to last a week.

It doesn’t seem possible we could spend as much as we do with as little to show for it.  This is the 4^th time we have put $40 in the bank, and we’ve spent $40 every week.  No clothes, very little besides actual expenses.  Went to town, the Whittons were all over tonight for a little while, playing dominoes.  Germany torpedoed a U.S. destroyer today.  We are in.

October 18, Saturday

Today we cleaned most of the day, trying to get everything ship shape in case Kidd and Edward come.  I hope they will bring Mamma and Joe.  We scrubbed the floor and fixed up everything.  Charlie drinks coffee with Earl most every evening, and after he left and we had supper Earl decided to put the roofing around to stop leaks and cold.  Walter and Edna came and helped us, and Walter came back and played dominoes.

October 19, Sunday

Hot – cool at night.

I’ve taken a bad cold and after we cleaned up I went back to bed and read Time.  Jo Anne has been at a loss all day for something to do, she is tired of reading, and there isn’t anyone to play with.  It worries me.  I guess I should have taken her to Sunday School, but I really felt badly all day.  Earl felt badly, too, and we didn’t go to church.  Mrs. Boyett brought Jo Anne some sugar cane and peanuts.

October 20, Monday

Hot.

Same old round and no mail.  Went to town with the Mrs. Whittons.  Mrs. Boyett dressed a chicken for me.  I was awfully glad to get it but ashamed for her to fix it for me.  I made an appointment with the dentist for Earl, he’s been feeling so bum, and thinks it might be his teeth.  The dentist pulled one, told him to come back next week.  After he got through there we went to see “Underground”, a picture based supposedly on revolt in Germany.  If true, it must be awful to live there.

October 22, Wednesday

Hot

Earl hasn’t felt very well since he came over here,  I’m worried about him.  I wish he would see a doctor.  His face is swelled today, and has hurt a good bit.  Mrs. Boyett  and I went to town, and I washed and ironed as usual.  Letters from Mamma, Kidd, Julia and a card from Minnie Lea.  I wrote Mamma, Kidd, and Dabbs.  Earl wants Jo Anne and me to go home Saturday morning, so I guess we will, and get what things we need from there.  We read the new Post, until Earl was sleepy and wanted to go to bed.  I wish he would get to feeling right again.

October 23, Thursday

Hot

Letter from Velma, she is awfully worried about Fery, who is to have an operation this week.  She said they might come home this Sunday, guess we will see them if we go home.  I’ve been trying to get all the things out to take home, making a list of things to bring back.   And trying to leave enough here so Earl will have plenty.  I’ve washed all the clothes and ironed them, but I have to get the things from the laundry.  They went in our car today, but the Whittons asked me to go to town.  I didn’t go, though, didn’t need anything.

Groceries 10/17 – 10/24         $14.85

October 24, Friday

Hot

Letters from Inez, Kidd, Minnie Lea and Velma.  Inez said she was coming to see me, and I’m so anxious to see her!  Guess we will leave early in the morning.  Went to town, and got most everything done.  Mrs. Boyett came over for a while.  When Earl came we took Walter and Edna after their car, and Daisy and Charlie came and talked a while.  We put our money in the bank and went to see “Manpower”.  Earl made a list he wants me to get at home for him.  I’m tired tonight.  Bought a Time but never did get to read any of it.

October 25, Saturday

Cooler.

Jo Anne and I left at 7:25, after we got everything cleaned up.  At 10:45 we were in Sicily Island, 144 miles.  We stopped at Lil’s, but only lost about 10 minutes, she wasn’t there.  Inez hasn’t been here, I’m so disappointed.  We ate dinner at Mamma’s and I went to the shop, cleaned up and posted.  Kidd and Edward came, and we all came back to Mamma’s.  Westbrook came by, too, and after supper we went to Margaret’s, but she wasn’t at home, so we stopped and talked to Mrs. Dewitt awhile.  Mamma has practically made Jo Anne a dress this afternoon.  I made out bills tonight.  I surely do miss Earl.  I know he wanted to come home, too.

October 26, Sunday

Cooler, rain in the afternoon.

Mamma spent the morning making Earl a cake, and doing the rest of the machine stitching on Jo Anne’s dress, because she said the ox was in the ditch.  We went to the shop and visited with Margaret and Cecil, went to our house, but it looks so lonesome and neglected it makes me sick.  We ate dinner at Mamma’s, packed up, and left at 1:45, stopped 30 minutes at Lil’s and got back to Minden at 5:45.  Earl had eaten supper with the Whittons, Edna was sick.  We went over there and talked awhile, got everything put away enough to put down the beds.  I’ll have a job with it all tomorrow.

October 27, Monday

Turning much cooler.

I washed but didn’t get to iron, and Mrs. Boyett and the two Mrs. Whittons went to town with me.  I paid the rent, and made arrangements for gas to be installed.  We went to see “Our Wife”, which was rather entertaining, hurried home to hear Pres. Roosevelt.  It certainly does bring us face to face with facts to hear him talk and to realize that we are certainly going to be fighting very soon.  Moscow is bound to fall, and it looks like Hitler will acquire world domination much sooner than anybody could have expected unless we decide to go all out for his defeat, and quit this everlasting stalling.

October 28, Tuesday

Cold, about 50^o.

It has been so uncomfortable in this tent today.  I have done little except try to stay warm.  I read Time and cleaned and cooked, went over and drank coffee with Mrs. Boyett, put the sleeves in Jo Anne’s dress.  The gas man came and brought the meter, but so far we haven’t got it hooked up.  Earl got his boots tonight, and we read “Prescription for Murder.”  No mail.  I wrote Mamma, Velma, and ordered the things from Montgomery Ward, some velveteen for a jacket for Jo Anne, cloth for that comfort, and some for Mamma’s living room curtains.

October 29, Wednesday

Cold but warmer.

We have about completed plans for the supper tomorrow night, have our place cards, napkins, table decorations, the menu about worked about worked out.  I wrote to Kidd, Minnie Lea, Inez, and Marcia today, and have been studying Montgomery Ward for some winter wearing apparel.  The man still didn’t hook up our gas today, and Walter came over, wants us to use the same meter because they don’t know when they will be able to get one.  Earl went to the dentist and got three fillings, now he’s got his teeth all in good shape.  Wish I was sure mine were as good.  We finished the “Prescription for Murder” story in the Post.

October 30, Thursday

Raining and much warmer.

The Whittons didn’t work, so we postponed our supper.  Its been an awfully nasty day.  I suppose this is intended to be written in diaries, but this morning we were drinking our coffee together, Earl still in bed, when he said, “Sugar, I’m thinking you are going to be a pretty old lady, too.”  Now what nicer compliment could a seventeen-year-married wife ask from her husband?  Letter from Velma.  I’m still pouring over the catalogs.  Went to see “That Hamilton Woman,” and two cops stopped us, told Earl he was drunk, that he was staggering.  I guess his boots being new and it raining and muddy he must have slipped.  We had a time convincing them, and then got a very poor apology.

October 31, Friday

Cold and rainy

I went to town with Mr. Boyett and her husband, we got groceries and clothes for Marie.  Edna and Daisy got back, so we all had supper together, not all we had planned, but we had the cake and at any rate it did very well.  Earl, Jo Anne and I went to the Bank, barber shop, etc.  I’ve been trying to decide on what to buy to keep us all warm, I guess I’ll order it, seems to be a pretty good selection, and I can’t find anything in Shreveport when I go.  Besides, it’s easier to buy like this if you can get what you want.  I wrote to Mamma but haven’t mailed the letter yet.  I wish we’d get a little mail, did get a letter from Velma yesterday, she’s still worried about Fery.

A Picture is Worth More Than a Thousand Words (Pt. 2)

I am blowing the dust off of these old images of the Broome family and allied family members to reveal the identities and likenesses of those individuals who may never have been seen by their descendants.  I hope that by posting these images and names that some of their descendents will have the joy of discovering more about their ancestors. (The John Thomas Broome family images are seen in the previous post.)

It is also fascinating to see how people lived and what was important to them, so these images are interesting in their own right to be viewed by everyone.  I hope you enjoy them!

Mr. and Mr. Walter Hurt (taken in Memphis, TN)

Walter Hurt was appointed the Postmaster in Winona, Mississippi in 1893 and was the City Editor of the Meridian Dispatch in Meridian, Mississippi according to the 1913 Meridian City Directory.

Mrs. Addie Harvey Hurt – wife of Walter Hurt

Harvey Hurt – son of Addie and Walter Hurt

W. Harvey and Eldridge Hurt – children of Addie and Walter Hurt

W. Harvey Hurt would grow up to run a newspaper in Waynesboro, Mississippi (like father, like son).  He was also instrumental in bringing a hospital to the Waynesboro area.

Sam Harvey – brother of Addie Harvey Hurt (also pictured with his grandparents John and Aletris Broome in the previous post)

Mercy Broome Harvey

Mercy Broome Harvey

Mercy Broome Harvey was the mother of Addie Harvey and Sam Harvey.  She was the sister of John Thomas Broome (from the previous post).

A party at the mouth of Mammoth Cave in Kentucky – 1882

Catherine B. Morgan – sister of Aletris (from the previous post)

Kate B. Morgan Clary Walsh

Kate B. Morgan Clary

A tribute to a lost loved one. I wish I knew who he was. The letters on the back look like MB.  It could possibly be a tribute to Willie who died when he was seven.

A Picture is Worth More Than a Thousand Words

Images of our ancestors are the golden nuggets of family history.  Often we are not able to find an image of an ancestor, but when we do, even when the image is small and faded, it gives life to their name and dates.  When you look into the eyes of people who lived so long ago, who are your own flesh and blood, it is an ethereal experience that connects you to your past.

One set of pictures I have in my collection of family images is in an old, red, velvet-covered album of the Broom(e) family.  Besides my loved ones, this album is one thing I would grab in case of a fire.  Most of the photos in this album are from 1880-1900, but some daguerreotypes are from before the Civil War. All except a few are labeled, which is invaluable!  Also in my family history collection I have the Broome Family Bible listing many of  their important dates and events.

John Thomas Broom

Aletris Ellen Morgan Broom

The patriarch of this family is John Thomas Broom who was a farmer from Utica, Mississippi.  (The “e” was added to the family name around the turn of the century according to Bible records.)   The year before the Civil War began he married his young sweetheart Aletris Ellen Morgan on October 7, 1860.  He was 24 and she was 13.  They married in Richmond, Louisiana (near Tallulah, LA) which was burned completely by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant before the siege of Vicksburg, MS in 1863.

Born in 1836 John Thomas was the prime age of 26 for military service in the Civil War. John served for more than one year in the Confederate Army as part of the 36th Mississippi Infantry.  He enlisted in March 1862 for 12 months of service, but in April 1862 a Confederate conscription act, or draft order, went into effect that forced men ages 18-35 to serve for at least three years.  In September of 1862 the conscription age was increased to 45.  But a year and two months after his enlistment date, when the 36th Mississippi was ordered to leave Snyder’s Bluff north of Vicksburg and take up defenses in Vicksburg, John deserted and went home.  Maybe he sensed the inevitable defeat by the Union Army because of the advances they were making around Mississippi.  But there were other reasons why many Confederate soldiers deserted their army around this time in the war.

One was the enactment of  the conscription acts which they felt infringed on their rights by their government — which was why they were fighting this war against the Union in the first place.  In addition to this was the 20 slave exemption added to the conscription acts in October of 1862.  This exemption meant that those who owned 20 slaves could go home to help prevent possible slave uprisings.  The slave-owner could then hire someone to fight in his stead. Any man who could afford the $300 price could hire a substitute to fight for them. Therefore the war in the Confederacy by this time had become known as “a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight.”

John Thomas and Aletris had their first child on August 30, 1861, a few months after the start of the war.  They named him Thomas Sanders Broom after Aletris’ father Thomas Sanders Morgan.  After John Thomas returned home from the war he and Aletris had 9 more children, six of whom lived to adulthood.

Thomas Sanders Broom

Thomas Sanders Broom and his wife Ella Anderson Broom with their children

When Thomas grew up, he converted from his family’s Protestant faith to Mormonism.  His father then disowned him.

Eva May Broom

John Thomas Broom returned home by August of 1863 and the following spring on May 30, 1864, Eva May Broom was born. She grew up and married Craven P. Fairchild on the 10th of December 1884.

The Broom’s second daughter Louisa Broom, died the day she was born on September 11, 1866.

Catherine Octavia Broom was born in Jan of 1869 and died at the age of three.

Their next child was a son, Willy.

John William “Willy” Broome

John William “Willy” Broom was born in December of 1870.  Sadly at the age of 7, he was killed when he was hit by a wagon.

The Broom’s third son Andrew Jackson Broom, born May 3, 1872, was named after Alestris’ brother Andrew Jackson Morgan (who was killed in the Battle of Seven Pines at the age of 16).  He moved to Llano, Texas where he was a border patrol agent.

Andrew Jackson Broom

Andrew Jackson Broom

Andrew Jackson Broom and his wife Lily Mayo Broom and their children

Annie Theodosia Broom was born January 27, 1876.  She married Andrew J. Harvey on the 4th of July 1899.

Annie Theodosia Broom

Luther Dudley “Dutchy” Broom was their eighth child and fourth son who was born on June 16, 1877.  He was my great grandfather.

Luther Dudley Broom

Luther Dudley Broome

Anna Daisy Jacob Broome

He married Anna Daisy Jacob from Reserve on the German Coast in south Louisiana.  They were married in Baton Rouge on 28 Dec 1904.  He was Baptist and she was Catholic, so they were married by a Methodist minister.  He worked for Standard Oil Company (now Exxon) in Baton Rouge.

Clarence Franklin Broom

Clarence Franklin Broome

Albia Jones Broome

Clarence Franklin Broom was born April 25, 1879.  He married Albia Jones December 23, 1903.

Mary Jane Broom

Aletris Broom had their last child when she was 42 years old.  She had a girl born September 13, 1881 whom they named Mary Jane Broom. Something happened to Mary Jane causing her to pass away at the age of 7.  All that is written in the family Bible is the date she died and the time of day: “quarter to four P.M. Sunday eve”.

The old Broom family album contains many more interesting photos of members of Aletris’ family and John Thomas’ families.  But those photos will appear in a future post.

John Thomas and Aletris lived a rich life full of joy, hardship, happiness, and sadness.  Most of the handwriting in the family Bible appears to be hers.  But on the day she died, at age 58, in a shaky handwriting typical of old age, John inscribes her death information in the old Bible: “Aletris E. Broome the wife of J. T. Broome.  Died on the 19 of April 1905 about 8 in the eaving was born 11 of March 1847″.  All other dates after her death were written by him until he died.

John Thomas and Aletris with grandchild Sammy Harvey

John Thomas Broome with Luther Dudley Broome’s children (L to R) Marcia (my grandmother), John Denis, and Katie (taken about 1913)