(Not So) Wordless Wednesday: Historical Photo- Cutting Yellow Pine in Pine Burr

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In the early part of this century, many yellow pines like this one were cut in the Pineburr community, which was located between Oloh and Baxterville.  Shown in the picture are, from left, Abb Johnson, Bob Johnson, Henry Johnson and Alex Johnson.  They worked for the Walworth and Neville Manufacturing Co. in Pineburr.  (Photo courtesy of C.D. Johnson)

Bob Johnson was my great-grandfather.  Abb and Henry Johnson were brothers of Bob Johnson (my great grand uncles).  They were the sons of Wilson "Babe" Johnson and Elizabeth G. "Betty" Fillingame.  Alex Johnson was their cousin. 

Bob Johnson was the "Grandpaw Bob" my Mom often mentions in her memoirs. She clipped this newspaper article several years ago from a local paper.  I have no knowledge of the date the article was published.

Memoirs of Lula Sue Simmons: Part 3, Crossing the River

Mom spoke often of their adventures in "the river" and of spending summer days at their "swimming holes".  Since the family resided in the Pinebur community of Lamar County, I'm sure she was speaking of Little River.

As Mom aged, she enjoyed sharing stories of her childhood in Pinebur.  I can remember her smiles and laughter when she spoke of the tricks her brother Alton pulled on her and I can remember the breaking of her voice when she spoke of some of the hardships the family endured.  Her story continues....

  As a child we would think and act like children but we would work like adults.  After school we would pick cotton, pull corn, feed the stock and watch over the younger kids until Mama could get home from work.

After moving across little River from grandmaw and grandpaw one of us would have to ride the bus over to their house and get Gertie and Elton in the afternoon and walk back home.   Walking home would be about a mile through the woods and across the river.  By wading the river and carrying one child at a time and then go back and bring the other one and another walk of about half of a mile took time.  

Of course if it had rained and the river was flooded then we would cross down river in a boat.  This was a very tricky thing to do.

There was bob [sic] wire strechted [sic] across the river and we would pull the boat across by holding on to the wire and slowly pulling the boat to the other side.  Alton was always suppose to do this.

But one cold and rainy day he decided it was time for me to learn this.  So with him waiting on the other side of the river watching out for our safety Gertie and I started across.  But with freezing fingers and not strong enough for the current I made the mistake to let go of the wire.  The boat was going down the river at a very fast rate and with Gertie crying and screaming for me to save her.  

And my big brother on the bank rolling with laughter there was one thing to do.  I jumped out holding on to the tie up rope and pulled the boat in.  I got a good case of pneumonia, he got a good laugh he also got something else when Mama got home.

Memoirs of Lula Sue Simmons: Part 2, Musings of a Mischief

Mom's brother, Alton, seemed to stay in trouble while they were growing up in the tiny community of Pinebur, Mississippi. It is a blessing that the family lived in the backwoods of Lamar County because Alton could have stirred up a "heap more trouble" if they had lived in the city.  Mom's memoirs reflect some of the mischief Alton invented:

Alton was always inventing new games.  Breaking bottles was one of them.  He and I would get all of the glass bottles that we could find then taking [sic] them down to this deep gully behind the house he would throw them and they would break into many pieces.

Mama and grandma was canning peas on the day he had a brain stroam [sic] to break bottles.  So after breaking many bottles which some of them didn't break I was to jumb [sic] down and get these ones so he could throw them again.  

So I did what my older brother said to do.  Needless to say I was cut real bad.  But never fear my brother wented [sic] for help.  

Running home to find Mama and grandma sitting on the porch shelling peas he told them that I was bleeding to death and they should go see about me.  Of course they came running with Alton telling them that he didn't think that I was stupid enough to jump down there on all of that broken glass.  Needless to say what happened to him when we got back to the house.

Alton was good at inventing ways to stay away from work too.

Like the time we were to plow the fields and get it ready to be planted.  At this time he was about eight years old and I was four or five.  After getting the horse hitched up he would sit under a shade tree and tell me how to plow.

If the plow got hung up on a root or the horse wouldn't go in the right direction it was because I was too stupid to do anything right.  

One Monday morning sitting on the front porch waiting for the school bus he made a very bad mistake by telling our little sister Gertie that his badly spranged ankle would feel better if someone would hit it with a piece of wood.

Well she was sitting next to a pile of stove wood.  So thinking as a three year old would and wanting to help her brother feel better she picked up a piece and really laid a feel better hit on his ankle.  Needless to say he didn't have to go to school that day.  But he never did ask Gertie to give him a feel better lick again.

Alton Simmons

Photo, c. 1945-46

Memoirs of Lula Sue Simmons: Part 1, Early Life in Pinebur

One of my many "projects" for this family history blog is to share the writings from my Mother's memoirs.  Mom kept a notebook and pencil next to her living room chair and for a while in the 1990's she wrote stories about her childhood until her hands became so unsteady that she felt she could no longer write.  I read her memoirs long before she passed away; and now that she is gone, I treasure them even more.

  

Before I begin posting her memoirs, I want to give my readers a brief background of my Mother's life.  She and her siblings grew up "dirt poor" in the tiny community of Pinebur, Mississippi.  Pinebur, also called Pine Burr, is located in Lamar County, Mississippi about 13 miles southeast of Columbia, which is in Marion County. 

Education was not one of Mom's priorities and her writing reflects so.  While growing up, she was expected to sometimes work on the family farm and help manage the chores inside their home.  She has told me stories about the days she had to pick cotton, gather vegetables from their garden, wash clothes in a huge metal tub (outdoors) and more.  While her childhood in rural Mississippi was tough, Mom retained many good memories that she wanted to share with her children and grandchildren.  I feel compelled to share her story here.  I am my Mother's "speaker"... I will tell the stories she can no longer tell.

This is the beginning of Mom's Memoirs...

In my memory is a lot of happy times and sad times.  Growing up in a small community called Pine Burr about sixteen miles south of Columbia, MS.  We were poor.  But in the 1940's everyone that lived in Pine Burr was.  Because we didn't know that there was another way of life.  In our child mind we thought everyone was the way we were.  

I was borned [sic] in a three room log house.  But later on moved down the road to a bigger house.  My grandmother Harriet and grandfather Bob lived across the little creek that we used for washing and playing in.

I can remember my older brother Alton and myself having to invent toys and games to play because there was no store bought toys.  We would have great hunting trips in the woods with our toy guns.  We would slip away and go swimming and fishing.  

But let me tell you some of the things that he did to me.  My mother who worked would leave us in care of our grandparents.  My grandpaw raised cotton and corn.  My grandmaw always had a large garden and canned the things she would raise in the garden.  So we had a lot of time to keep ourselves busy without getting in the way.

We would play in the woods without fear of snakes.  But Alton would always find a way of getting us into trouble.  The corn crib was off limit to us.  But one day he came up with a bright idea, why not climb into the crib to see why we wasn't to go in the crib.  So he founded [sic] the ladder and we wented [sic] into the crib.  

After looking around he found this can of axle grease so he thought it would be a good idea to paint his baby sister with this black greasy stuff.  So after making me look like a tar baby he lefted [sic], locked the crib door and wented [sic] along with his playing.  

When Mama started looking for me he tolded [sic] her were [sic] I was.  His excuse for this Well if she was stupid enough to sit there and let me do this to her, why not?  Of course he was whipped for this.

As I read this, I can just imagine my Uncle Alton laughing at poor Mom while she stood there, covered in axle grease.  Even in his adult years, Uncle Alton enjoyed pulling pranks on others and being mischievous- I know this from personal experience (I plan to write a post about one particular prank he pulled on me).  

To be continued....