I am more than glad to take part in ceremonies that help remind us of the sacrifices made by so many people on our behalf.  Their sacrifices have allowed me to live and raise my family in a country that tenaciously guards freedom for all.

Twice each year our local American Legion puts on a small, yet meaningful remembrance service at one of our town cemeteries — once on Memorial Day and again on Veterans’ Day.  These ceremonies are complete with patriotic readings, prayer, the playing of Taps, a three-gun salute, an American flag risen on the flag pole then lowered to half-mast, and a red, white, and blue floral wreath placed at the base of the flag pole all in honor of the fallen.  Most of the people in attendance are older members of the post, their spouses and a few people from the community.I always try to attend.  And I bring my children.   By attending they will learn to care about things that matter like respect, honor, and patriotism. At these memorial celebrations they witness these qualities in action.  These services not only help bring us together as a community and connect us to our past, but celebrating them with our families will assure that our children will continue to remember the sacrifices that have been made for them. They will learn that the good life we experience today, due to the service and sacrifice of so many veterans, should never be taken for granted.

We’ve learned from the past that a threat can come from anywhere at anytime so our soldiers are on guard around the world to make sure our safety and freedom is protected.  Just yesterday, the body of a young soldier, from my community, Christopher Drake, 20, was flown home from Afghanistan after he served there for only five months. He was killed in the line of duty.

I don’t think recent generations in America can have any idea of what it truly means to have freedom threatened.  I know we have experienced isolated terrorist attacks, but we don’t know what it would be like to have an enemy army come barreling into our towns and cities and across our countryside bombing our buildings and homes, shooting civilians, and committing other brutal atrocities in order to take over our country.

All of this happened in Europe only a generation ago and it threatened to cross the oceans and engulf the United States.  Americans genuinely had to accept the reality that the enemy may actually engage in fighting on our own soil and in our coastal waters.  In fact, in World War II the enemy made attacks on our territories and sunk ships in our own waters.

In her diary from 1941 before the United States entered the war, Louisiana resident Bea Denham expressed these very real fears many times through the year as she listened to the war unfold in Europe.  Here are some poignant excerpts:

April 7th – “...they are openly saying now that our country is practically in the War,…Oh, what a dreadful thing to happen!  … we can’t survive in Hitler’s world.”  

April 9th –  ”Things never looked blacker to me. Oh, war is too horrible!  Nobody can foresee where all this will end, but there can’t be any easy solution and settlement for us.“

April 13th – “The war news is worse than ever.  It seems all the world is against democratic government.  We are bound to go to war soon, it seems to me.  Horrible thought.”

May 2nd – “The war news is worse each day that passes. … It is generally predicted that very few more months of peace are left to us.”

May 27th – “We listened to Roosevelt, and I could only feel that war is ever so much nearer.  This little endangered peace we are enjoying now will be our last, I’m afraid.  Our world after war won’t be the same.  We are watching the dying of an age, and only God knows what will come out of it.  We will never see the end, or know carefree happy days again.  There have been very few for our generation anyway.”

May 28th – “…the shadows ahead are so thick and heavy, with certain suffering and heartache, bitter want for the whole world after this orgy of bloodshed and waste.”

June 21st – “This war seems destined to envelope the globe.”

July 24th – “…I am afraid the war is nearer to us than we think. …Japan is definitely off the fence she has tried to straddle so long and is in the German camp.”

October 27th – “… 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.”

November 4th - Germany has torpedoed another boat…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.

November 18th  ”…Japan is blustering, and will probably do more than that before it’s all over.  This world certainly seems to be in a mess.”

December 7th - I thought of the beautiful music we often have on Sunday afternoon, and turned on the radio to hear, “Japan has bombed the Philippines and Hawaiian Islands,” – such a rude awakening to cold reality.  Its WAR now, to the death.  This is no longer an oasis in a world of war, its total, and there’s no telling where it will end.  I could cry my eyes out.

December 8th –  “Somehow I only feel numb, and as if I were having a nightmare, and will soon awake.  We are entering on very dark days and perhaps years.”

December 20th - “I’m so scared.  They passed Selective Service – 20 to 45 – this week, and what would I do if Earl had to leave me?”

It was the men and women of America who fought and won against seemingly invincible Germany and Japan. Many fought and died.  Today soldiers are still fighting and dying in service to our country.  So the next time you meet a veteran express your gratitude.  Or if your community conducts a patriotic ceremony, take time out from your busy day and attend to show your respect and patriotism.

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

December 1, Monday

Cloudy and cooler.

Mrs. Boyett and I washed all our clothes today, and I’m about all in.  She made squirrel gumbo for me, and I worked on that coffee table mat, so it’s completed.  We played dominoes with Walter.  Had a letter from Kidd.  Earl got the paraphernalia for the urine test from the life insurance company.  Today for the first time it seems Russia has the Germans retreating, while England has the same fine luck in Lybia.  This war has got to be routine to us, since we are not yet experiencing the awfulness nor the heartbreak of it.

December 2, Tuesday

Warm, partly cloudy

Had a letter from Faye and wrote to Mamma and Marcia.  John, Mrs. Boyett and Edna have all been here today, also Mrs. Brown, but I ironed all the things I had, and we went to town, I had several little things to do.  We read “The D. A. Cooks a Goose” tonight.  Earl got in a little earlier.  England isn’t doing so well in Africa today, but the Russians are running the Germans in Russia a little.  The days drag so, I am embroidering some trying to line up a few things for Christmas.  I wrote to Faye, too.  Mrs. Boyett sent Jo Anne candy, and a bowl of chili, which she enjoyed.

December 3, Wednesday

Cloudy , warm

I had to go to town for a few things, and that takes the most important part of the day.  I started a new piece to embroider, when I’ve got magazines just crying to be read.  Earl went to get a haircut, and we saw “Sun Valley Serenade.”  It was fair.  Sonja Henie is so innocent and fresh looking and skates so well the show would be bound to enhance its value on her account, but the plot was more than thin.  It’s a rush to get to bed early enough to get eight hours sleep.  We got our Bank statement, — have saved $320.00.

December 4, Thursday

Warm and sunny

I have felt simply awful all day, embroidered over to Mrs. Boyett’s nearly all day.  I didn’t feel like going to the Bank with Earl and Jo Anne, so they went, and Walter came and played dominoes.  We got a card from Cecil saying the baby came Tuesday, the 2^nd, a boy, named Dewitt Lee, weighed 8 ¾ pounds.  I’m so glad it’s over, and I do hope they get along nicely.  I surely would like to go home and see them, but guess we will have to wait til Sunday after next.  Oh, I do hope they have good luck with this baby.

December 5, Friday

Colder

I ordered Christmas things $41.12 today, which is almost everything except Jo Anne’s – I wrote Margaret, Mamma, and Aunt Leona.  We bought the weeks supply of groceries, and I went to see about Daddy’s hat.  Also got Time and read the most of it.  We read the new Post, and Earl came in with a headache, so we are turning in early.

December 6, Saturday

I washed all the things we had dirty this morning, and after I got cleaned up, started to work on that embroidery.  I don’t believe I’ll ever get it all done by Christmas but I’ll try.  I’ll be glad when the things come so I can tell what I have, and still have to get.  Rosemary came last night, so she’s been over several times, and after supper she and John both came, we went to town and to the show, “Buy Me That town,” – not much.  We enjoyed it though, but its surely put us into bed late, nearly eleven now.

December 7, Sunday

Cool and sunny.

Today I cleaned up early and Mr. and Mrs. Boyett, Jo Anne and I rode up to Haynesville, — the country was so pretty, — dark green pines and the flaming red of gum and sumac, then all the varying shades from bright yellow to deep brown, it was such a peaceful happy looking country that I felt happier than for a long time, then when I came home I thought of the beautiful music we often have on Sunday afternoon, and turned on the radio to hear, “Japan has bombed the Philippines and Hawaiian Islands,” – such a rude awakening to cold reality.  Its WAR now, to the death.  This is no longer an oasis in a world of war, its total, and there’s no telling where it will end.  I could cry my eyes out.

December 8, Monday

Cold, but sunny

Today Mrs. Boyett came over and we listened the whole day to the radio.  To Roosevelt, when he asked for a declaration of War against Japan.  I wanted Earl and Jo Anne to hear it so badly, and when they came home, the school had had a radio, so Jo Anne heard it, and the company put the speech on the public address system, so Earl got to hear it, too.  Somehow I only feel numb, and as if I were having a nightmare, and will soon awake.  We are entering on very dark days and perhaps years.  We were born too early or too late, — war in our childhood, wildness and shifting sand in our youth, depression and war in our fruitful years.  What a life of varied emotions and experiences we will have!  Letters from Mamma, Margaret and Velma.

December 9, Tuesday

Cold, sunny

I worked on the Christmas presents, then went to town and mailed letters to Mamma, Margaret, Velma, Mrs. Peck, Kidd and Love.  Ate sandwiches with Mrs. Boyett, then when I went for the mail my package with the Christmas presents in it had come, so she came over and we opened it.  Most other things I ordered came.  I guess I’ll try to wrap them right away.  Mr. and Mrs. Boyett came over and waited to hear Roosevelt talk.  It’s so depressing and unreal.  Had a letter from Florelle today, Al (?) is out of the army, but of course he will have to go right back.  She seemed awfully blue and discouraged.

December 10, Wednesday

Cold, sunny

I spent the day at Mrs. Boyett’s working on Christmas presents.  Had letters from Love and Julia.  Poor Love, she is worried sick over the war, and thinking her boy may have to go.  Julia didn’t have much to say.  Jo Anne came home with a sore throat, so we went to town to get something to mop it with. Earl read the new “Trouble is My Master” in the Post to us.  The war news is not encouraging. The Japs have landed troops on Luzon.  Oh, what will all this war turn out to be!  It’s so discouraging.  They are going to register from 17 to 44 for military service, to 65 for Civilian Defense.

December 11, Thursday

Cold and raining

Jo Anne wasn’t able to go to school, so I’ve embroidered and she’s read, most of the day.  Germany and Italy declared war on us today, which is a good thing, there will be no more hedging.  Letter from Marcia, they have had another death in her family.  And a letter from Daisy, also one from Mamma.  I wrote to Florelle, Minnie Lee and Daisy.  Earl was tired when he came in, but he went to the Bank.  I ordered Jo Anne’s Christmas things.  We made candy for the lunches.

December 12, Friday

Cold and raining

I went to town and bought groceries and Christmas wrappings, then spent the rest of the day getting my packages wrapped. Everything I ordered came except Jo Anne’s dress.  Still I have nothing for her.  Mamma said Earl’s “Audubon’s Bird Book” came.  I think I’ll go home Sunday.  Mrs Boyett went today.  I’m still working on those presents I must make, but it’s so very slow.

December 13, Saturday

Cold, but no rain.

The war news is getting a little more encouraging.  I took Mrs. Boyett and Edna to town, and I bought Jo Anne’s teacher and two friends presents.  We finished wrapping them all today, and I got together the thing I wanted to take home.  I guess Jo Anne and I will go home.  I read “Trouble is My Master” to Earl and Jo Anne.

December 14, Sunday

Cold, but sunny

Jo Anne, Mrs. Boyett and I left at 7:30 this morning.  We stopped in Monroe for her to see her sister, then stopped a few minutes at Lil’s.  When we got home, Mamma went to Kidd’s with us.  Joe said he’d rather stay by the fire and read.  We had dinner there, Jo Anne rode the horse, and we went to Margaret’s – The baby is pretty – she looks well, too.  We went to Julia’s and to our house a few minutes, and got a away at 4:15.  Stopped at Lora’s a few minutes, got here at 7:45.  Gee I’m tired, but I was awfully glad to get back, it may be a tent, but ”home is where the heart is.”

December 15^th, Monday

Cold, but sunny

Washed, ironed, mopped, cleaned generally.  Letters from Velma and Faye — I started fixing Christmas cards.  Tonight Mr. and Mrs. Boyett came over, and so did Edna and Walter, to listen to Roosevelt talk. It was so late before he came on, -10 to 10, that they all left but we stayed up to hear him, he was part of a program on the 150^th anniversary of the signing of the Bill of Rights.  Earl Walter and I played dominoes after the others left.  The time is getting awfully short, I’m afraid I won’t get it all done for Christmas.

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

November 16, Sunday

Sunny and warm

We decided to go back to bed after Earl left, and I read “Luck of Scotland.”  About ten we got up, dressed, and I had made the beds when Lil and Al came.  I was glad to see them, Sundays are so long.  We fixed sandwiches for dinner and went to Belle’s spent an hour or so then drove about town and out to Barksdale Field too late to go in.  Earl had already got home and washed the dishes when we finally got home. They stayed a little while. I made coffee and sandwiches again for them.  We sat around and talked til after Walter Winchell, now we’re ready to turn in.

November 17, Monday

Warm and sunny

Mrs. Boyett and I washed clothes this morning, then she spent the day with me.  We didn’t get any mail. Daisy asked us to go to town, but I didn’t need anything so we didn’t go. When Earl came he suggested our going to Carter’s, so we did.  We didn’t stay very long though.  Didn’t have anything to read either, so we decided to go to bed early.  Jo Anne says they are going to have Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving.

November 18, Tuesday

Sunshine and cloud, much warmer

Mrs. Boyett and I went to town early, came back and made coffee.  I cleaned up everything, and read awhile.  Went to the house for the mail and had to wait nearly an hour and a half, but got a letter from Mamma and one from Mrs. Peck.  I started looking for Christmas things, but haven’t had much luck.  After supper we went to Mrs. Boyett’s a little while.  Seems from the news that Germany is about settled in the Crimea, Japan is blustering, and will probably do more than that before it’s all over.  This world certainly seems to be in a mess.

November 19, Wednesday

Cloudy, intermittent showers.

John came today, brought us turnips, potatoes, radishes, milk, and butter from Mamma and Joe and coffee and letters from Pop.  John went on to Shreveport, and came back about the same time Earl got home.  We had supper, and went over to Charlie’s to talk awhile, borrowed their cot, and John is going to sleep over here tonight.  I’ve tried to figure on Christmas, but I didn’t get very far with it.  I wrote to Motor Supply about our refrigerator which has gone bad; to Sears, completing the roof payments; to Wes, sending Earl’s Masonic dues and to Prudential paying this 4^th quarter premium.

November 20, Thursday

Cooler, threatening

John went to Shreveport again, but didn’t get anything definite, though Owens was encouraging.  Earl said he was really tired, had a headache, too.  John ate supper with Charlie and Daisy so Earl lay down and rested for an hour.  Then we all went to see “Nothing But the Truth”, which was quite good.  I sewed a little on Jo Anne’s dress, we went over to Edna’s for awhile, but didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving in any special way.  But there are plenty of things I’m truly thankful for — parents, sisters, good in-laws, America, all the many things we take for granted.  And for freedom from debt, for a good job, even if it does mean living in a tent.  And for Jo Ann, bless her dear little old heart.

November 21, Friday

Warmer and still cloudy

Jo Anne and I went to town with Daisy, Edna and Glen went, too.  We got a permanent for Jo Anne, but I don’t like the way it looks.  I bought groceries for the week, sent $3 to Mamma, she bought more wool for Jo Anne’s comforter.  John came in about 3:30, got his orders to go out tonight a t 12 o’clock.  Daisy and Charlie knew of a trailer at Dozline, so Jo Anne and I went with Earl, John, and Charlie to look at it.  That one wasn’t so good, but they told us of one at Sibley, so we went over there and John bought it.  I had a card from Minnie Lea, but that’s all the mail.

November 22, Saturday

Rain all night and all day

Earl went to work in our car today, he was afraid Walter and Charlie wouldn’t work and sure enough they both came in about ten.  Charlie and Daisy went to Baton Rouge and the other to Nacogdoches.  Jo Anne and I read, and about three (o’clock) Eunice Garrison, and Cora, and her husband came, wanting to know how to go about getting him a job.  They stayed til around five, and when Earl came they had told him to take Sunday off, so of course we wanted to go home.  We got to Sicily Island about nine, went to Pop’s awhile, then to Mamma’s. They are all alright.  The dogs and Tuffy both look pretty and fat.  It is nearly eleven so we’re off to bed.

November 23, Sunday

Gloomy and cold.

We cleaned up in the house and went down to the Gillis place to hunt Jo Anne’s cow, didn’t find her.  Came back to the shop and found May Usher and Melvin.  They had three of Dot’s puppies, one for Edward, one for Cecil and they kept a female.  They are beauties.  We went on to Margaret’s. Mrs. Summers had just come spent about an hour.  Margaret expects to go to the hospital any day.  Came home and ate dinner, Kidd and Edward were with us, and after dinner Marcia and the children came.  Cecil, Mr. Dewitt and Sprague came, and Cecil rode part of the way back with us it was the first time Earl had seen Cecil since we came to Minden.

November 24, Monday

Beautiful, but cold

Letter from Florelle. Mrs. Boyett came over before I got this messy place clean and I also washed all the under clothes.  It was a job.  Mrs. B Edna and I went to town and went we got back we found that Daisy and Charlie were back and fixing to move to Baton Rouge. Charlie has a good job with Tucker a shore job but they have hopes of a longer one.  I hate to see then go, but if they can do better I don’t blame them.  They ate supper with us, and we went to the show to see “Wild Geese Calling.”  There was very little of the books charm it was sordid and cheap and the book was pretty good.  It’s awfully cold tonight.

November 25, Tuesday

Cold, but the sun is beautiful

Daisy and Charlie got off at 1:15 today. They drank coffee over here and Charlie shaved with Earl’s electric razor.  I was awfully sorry to see them go.  No mail came.  John came over for a little while and so did Mrs. Boyett.  After supper Walter and Edna came and played dominoes.

The English seem at last to have taken the initiative in Africa but they’re having a pretty tough time.  Germany seems to have renewed her attempt to take Moscow before settling down for the winter. I’m writing Minnie Lea, but I’m still worrying over what to get for Christmas for the family.

November 26, Wednesday

Warmer, but still cold.

I decided to make a coffee table doily for that crochet I’ve got, so I sewed them and made the picot part.  Mrs. Boyett wanted me to come over there, and I stayed nearly all day.  We took Walter to town after Earl came, came back and read “Bright Danger.”  Earl peeled and broke sugar cane and pecans, so we ate until it’s time to go to bed.  We had a letter from Motor Supply saying they’d exchange the unit in our refrigerator for $5.00.  Its lonesome since Daisy left, it’s awfully lonely up here, anyway, but I guess we’ve no kick if we can save anything.  Buggs Doniphan has a 2 1/2 # daughter I hear.

November 27, Thursday

No mail, we went to the bank when Earl came home, and Walter came over so we played dominoes until its bedtime.  I’ve done almost nothing today, worked on that piece of crochet.  I washed all the clothes this morning, and as a result have a backache.

November 28, Friday

Warm and sunny.

We went to town early and I bought all the groceries for next week.  Looked for the Christmas things, but didn’t find anything.  It was pretty late when we got back, so I ironed all the clothes I had washed yesterday.  Read to Earl and Jo Anne tonight, put olive oil in her hair, so I could wash it early in the morning.

November 29, Saturday

Warm and sunny.

I asked John if Jo Anne and I could go home with him in the morning so I could make bills.  Then I decided to go to town and get some things for Mamma, so did, and it was pretty late when we got back.  I got letters from Mamma and Velma, and when Earl came he had been laid off til Monday, so we decided to go home.  We got home about nine, went to Mamma’s awhile, and on to Kidd’s spend the night, and Earl and Edward are going hunting.  It’s nearly twelve, and time to go to bed.  Wrote to Velma.

November 30, Sunday

Warm, beautiful

Jo Anne and I got up early and went back home, got the books, and Mamma and Daddy.  Earl and Edward went hunting, got back about noon.  I finished the bills about one, we had a nice enjoyable day, left and came back to Sicily Island where we visited Pap and Julia awhile, and spent about an hour at home.  It’s very little pleasure to go over there, I feel awful.  I’m going home and clean it up Christmas week, yard and all.  We got back to Minden about 7:30, and we’re all worn out.

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.

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.

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)

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!

[...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.

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.

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)