Fred McCaleb's Stories and Articles: Mar 28, 2008

by
Fred McCaleb

I, Fred McCaleb son of above, finally got to see myself in the 1920 census of
Fayette County, Ala. after patiently waiting from when the census was opened in
1990 until July of 1992 for a copy of the microfilm to filter down into the
Fayette County Library. The census is closed and secret for 70 years for info
that may be obtained on individuals, but is open to Big Brother and his brother
Big Business who may obtain what information they wish for their decisions and
operations. But for the individual it is a closed deal for 70 years, and they
figure the ones above 70 are too old and weak to fight and have no rights
anyway. What rights they have can be taken away by children by seeing a lawyer
and signing a paper saying they are incompetent to take care of their own
affairs. Then the nursing home and awaiting for death.

A copy of the page of the census we were on is attached to this writing. The H
McCaleb house was No 145 in Coles Beat. We were between house 144 which was
that of Ecter Killingsworth and his wife Ethel Hallmark and and house 146 which
was that of Joe Kelley and his sons Bill and Jess Kelley. But the house closest
to us was No 147 that of Jennie Hollingsworth Kelly. She was a sister of my
grandma Rejina Catherine Hollingsworth McCaleb, was the head of the household,
and had already been married twice and lost both husbands and never had any
children. I never knew what happened to the husbands. Daddy's uncle James (Jim)
Hollingsworth and his wife Mandy Kelly and family lived in house 148. More on
these families later.

In the H McCaleb house were found H a white male age 26 head of family and
married and could read and write. There was Eza (Hallmark) the wife married
white female age 27 and she could read and write. There was Fred the son single
white male 3+ years old and he couldn't read and write. (the census taker
supposedly came in June before I was 4 on Sept 7, 1920). Then there was little
brother Hubert, son, white male, 1+ years old and he couldn't read and write.
The McCaleb house was just a shack with 2 main rooms for living room and beds.
There was a chimney at one end of one of the rooms where we kept warm by the
fireplace in the winter. There was a little side room at the back for a
kitchen. The house was well above ground , so Hubert and I could play under the
floor with the chickens. An old Woodard man over there said he came to our house
one time when we were young when it was hot and Hubert and I were sweating, had
chicken feathers on our face and black chicken bowel movements between our
barefoot toes. We were having a big time. We had no radio, no phonograph (they
called them funneygraphs back then), no tv, no electric stove and no
intertainment except what we created our selves. Daddy bought Hubert and I one
little red wagon and we and friends tore it up in about 3 weeks. He never
bought another one saying only that we would tear it up and we were on our own
to build our own playthings from then on. He did let us use what tools he had
which were handsaw, crosscut saw, ax, hammer, drawing knife and brace and bits.
I tried to learn the things my parents knew. One of the first endeavors was his
wood chopping ax. With it I nearly chopped my left little finger off. The
finger nail on it is still about same size (small) as in youth, so that part of
me never grew up and got old and is a reminder of where I lived in my first 8
years of life. My dad kept the chopping ax sharp, but didn't bother or know how
to sharpen the handsaw and crosscut saw. I later learned how to do that myself.
We had a handcranked grindstone to sharpen the axes and bought files to sharpen
the cotton hoes. When I was about 4 and being in the cotton field with my momma
hoeing, a bug got way deep into one of my ears. That nearly gave me a fit.
Momma poured water or oil or something down ear and finally got bug in notion
of giving up. Another bad experience was going after the cows late one summer
evening. That was one of my jobs when the cows wouldn't come when my mother
called "sook cow, sook cow". This particular evening I stepped on a
blacksnake. The snake took off at high spped in one direction and I took off
high speed barefooted toward the house. I had learned from direct contact
before ever taking a biology class that snakes are cold blooded animals--at
least they feel cool to the feet. This experience taught me to try to keep up
with where I put my feet. We went barefooted all of each summer and a common
accident was to stomp the toe against something hard and get it hurt. There I
learned that one can't always go thru life with his head turned toward the sky.
When Hubert and I were a little older our mother would send us to Snow Tucker's
store to get some little thing. We had to go over a bluff down a path across
Boxes' Creek and on thru a path across a field for a mile or more. On one trip
we met a rattlesnake. She could never get us to go to the store anymore. On
this same creek there was a hole of water big enough to swim in. I recollect
daddy trying to teach momma to swim. He turned her loose on her own and nearly
let her drown one time. She never went swimming or had any more interest in
that during her lifetime. He saw that Hubert and I knew how to swim in a
fashion. I never learned the fancy strokes, but was always able to stay on top
of the water. The road to our house was just a field road about 1/3 mile long
winding across Boxes' Creek (no bridge) to the gravel road that went by
Skimming Ridge School House. When we were away from home in the wagon and some
times a sudden rain would come up and raise the waters to too high a level to
ford the stream with mules and wagon. One time later when Clancy was a little
girl daddy forded the stream when water was too high. The mules were losing
firm footing and having to swim and water was up in the bed of the wagon. We
barely made it across. Little Clancy said she had nightmares for a long time
after that. I suppose I, being a little boy, was not especially scared, just
excitement to me. Now it would probably scare me to death. Down Boxes' Creek
about the lower end of our land was a fishtrap that daddy and his Uncle Jim
Hollingsworth had built. This trap would catch fish the easy way. Hubert and I
sometimes got sent to pick up the fish from this trap. One time we found a
snake in it. So no more of that duty. The snakes apparently pretty well had us
shook up, though we didn't seem to be much afraid of a lot of other dangers
that lurked all around. One time there was a black convict escaped into the
section and everyone was scared. Daddy told momma and I the mules needed
turning out or putting up one. He talked us into performing the chore. The barn
was a ways from the house. While we were gone he got in the grass patch and
started making a noise and nearly scared us to death. We ran back to the house
and when daddy was not there momma was ready to get a stick of stovewood and hit
him over the head with it. She cooked on an old cast iron cook stove and burned
pine stovewood. The kitchen was mighty hot in the summer, but ok in the winter.
The stovewood was split into double length and had to be cut. Cutting stovewood
became one of my jobs when I was able to handle the ax without cutting off
fingers. I guess this covers something about the H McCaleb house and some of
the activities that went on in the 1920 era when the census taker came along. I
was wondering before I saw the census if the census taker found us back in the
place where we were, but he did. The census is of poor quality compared with
previous censuses. The photocopy is just the way it looked on the
microfilm--poor quality. The quality was probably due to sloppy workmanship of
the crew that did the microfilming. The durability of paper has steadily
declined since the mid 1800's. Before that paper was made from rags. And not
much of it was made, but what was made was of good quality and also handwriting
was better back then. Penmanship was a required subject in schools back then.

I next go to the Jennie Hollingsworth Killingsworth Kelley house 147. She was
our nearest neighbor, daddy's aunt, and within hollering distance. She was a
widow, the head of the household, white female 48 years old. She had no
children and had already gone through with 2 husbands by 1920. I never knew
whether the husbands died drunk, naturally, left the country because they
couldn't take her or what. I did find that she and first husband were thrown
out of Killingsworth Baptist Church for drunkeness. Maybe she could hold her
own at drinking more than the husbands and still live. She was grandma Rejina
C. Hollingsworth McCaleb's sister. All the Hollingsworth girls drank alcohol
(moonshine liquor) except grandma, her sister Martha Woodard, and perhaps her
sister Nancy who was married to "Mad" McCollum", a famous lawyer of Jasper,
Al. Nancy died on the dope morphine. The Hollingsworths believed in consuming
lots of tobacco and alcohol. This is still a problem of much of society. The
most vivid recollection of Jennie was when she got a rat up her dress and
screamed for help. Momma and I went to help her and between her and momma they
got the rat out. I don't think I was of much help--just a young onlooker that
didn't know much of what goes on. I believe Jennie married another old Tidwell
or Tucker man before her death and she is buried at Tidwell's Chapel, a small
Church of Christ 2 or 3 miles from where my grandma McCaleb lived. She did sell
her place to Annie Cannon and Adelaide Sanders the same time ours was sold in
1924.

I believe the next closest house to ours was that of Ecter and Ethel Hallmark
Killingsworth house. It was about 1/4-1/2 mile up hill over a path and logging
road from our house. Here is where my Killingsworth older first cousins lived.
Momma's sister Ethel was 30 (3 yrs older than Momma) and already had 5 children
that made 1920 census. There was Ola 8+ years old. She is now in a nursing home
in Anniston, Al. She was the guardian mother hen that took care of us children
on our trek every school day morning to Skimming Ridge one teacher school. We
walked a path throough fields, over a one bannister footlog that scaled Boxes
Creek and up a wooded bluff trail that crossed a country gravel road to the
house of learning and punishment. One morning our guide Ola fell off the
footlog after becoming dizzy from looking at the flowing water below. Luckily
she hit on the solid rocks at the edge of the water and didn't get drowned. One
of us ran to the school for help. She had a badly bruised spot above one eye
that stayed black for a while. My dad and Ecter had been too lazy or didn't
find time to put another bannister on the footlog. I forgot if they put one on
after the accident or not. The next daughter and cousin was Eunice
Killingsworth. She was 7+ and only a year younger than Ola. She looked like the
killingsworths. She is now about 80 and has her own home in Memphis. She sleeps
at her younger sister Florence Copeland's house, also of memphis. She never
married, worked in cotton mills and restaurants until 2 or 3 years ago. She is
having health problems. The next daughter was Mildred, aged 5+ years. She was
the lively one back then pulling tricks on her cousins. One time she was at
Grandma Hallmarks' house when I was there. She said "Look up" and I looked up.
She said "Look down" and I looked down. Then she said "You're the biggest fool
in town." She might have been about right for those that do everything someone
tells them to do or dares them to do. I soon learned that I was an individual
that didn't have to do as others do. Mildred is retired in Florida now with her
husband. I have seen her once 2 years ago since she was a little girl. She had
no children. The Killingsworth cousin closest my age was Vivian aged 3+ in the
1920 census. She looked like the Hallmarks and some said she and I would have
passed for brother and sister. Her husband died many years ago and also her
only son Hoke Middleton died about 15 years ago. She has lived in Aliceville,
Al. most of her life and has a house there. She has recently been of infirm
health and staying part time with her only daughter who lives in Arab, Al.
There was another cousin Willard Killingsworth b. 1919. The first four are the
ones I recollect the best as they were companions and lookers out for me on the
hazardous way to school. The Ecter Killingsworth family moved to Aliceville, Al.
about 1924 or sooner and we moved to a shack on my grandpa McCaleb's place and
stayed there a year and then daddy's uncle George talked dad into buying part
of a place between Neddleton and Shannon, Ms. Ecter and Ethel had 5 or 6 more
children at a farm in outskirts of Aliceville. Ecter died in a car wreck,
supposedly drunk, when the younger Killingsworth kids still had to be raised,
so Ethel was left on her own. The oldest 4 girls helped out by getting jobs in
the cotton mill down there and helping their mother raise the younger ones. Ola
ran away to get married one time while we were in Miss. and came to our house.
My dad advised her not to to no avail. She married, had one son and divorced,
then married again. I suppose Ola was not much help to Ethel. Later I got to
know one of the younger children--Florence Copeland. The Killingsworth boys,
Willard and Lee made careers of the Marine Corps and also learned to consume
their share alcoholic beaverages. Alcohol reaches out its dark hand and touches
nearly every family in some cruel way.

The next family past Jennie Hollingsworth Kelley was Joe Kelley in house 146.
He was Jennie's father in law. He was 64 years old white male, born in Ga.,
head of family and could read and write. His wife, I believe her name was Mary,
was already dead. He had 2 batchelor sons Bill 25, and Jesse 22. They were of no
direct kin to us, but still we went by their house on the way to dad's uncle Jim
Hollingsworth who ran a blacksmith shop and repaired and made mule wagons. Jim
was married to Joe's daughter Mandy Kelley. Daddy got his plow points sharpened
at Jim's shop. Joe Kelly had a cedar water bucket that set on a table on the
porch. Anybody that was up with the Joneses had one of those cedar buckets to
improve the taste of the water. Best I recollect metal dippers were the style
for water buckets back then. Every body drank from the same dipper, not being
afraid of germs as they are today. On the same table set a washpan. Everybody
washed their hands and faces in the washpan before eating a meal. The rest of
the body might be dirty, but hands and face needed clean to eat. The H McCaleb
family didn't have a cedar bucket, so a cedar bucket was fascinating to son
Fred. He wondered how he could make one, but never mastered that skill. We had
to wash our feet in the washpan before going to bed at night, but still lots of
dirt on rest of body which we washed off about once a week in the same or bigger
pan. One source of Joe's water was a spring down a steep hill from his house.
Joe kept a gourd dipper at this spring so that anyone that passed by could help
himself to a good drink of cold spring water. The gourd dipper, made from
gourds, hadn't completely gone out of style at that time. Gourds fascinated me.
One could escape buying a dipper by growing gourd vines. Just for curiosity I
grew a gourd vine this year and raised 5 gourds of the birdhouse type. Long
handled gourds are needed for dippers. One other thing about Joe's place
fascinated me. One of his fields close to our house was supposed to have a pot
of gold buried on it. They buried their gold during Civil War to keep from
getting it taken by Confederate or Union Army. My daddy showed me when I was
young where the pot of gold was supposed to be buried, but doubt if I could go
back now. One might take a good metal detector and find it. Many families back
then had tales of gold being buried around their homes. The ones that knew
where it was buried had died, and ones remaining didn't know where the spot
was.

House 148, about 3/4 mile from where we lived, was daddy's uncle Jim and aunt
Mandy Kelley Hollingsworth house. Jim was 43, family head and could read and
write. Wife Mandy Kelley was 39, wife, and could read and write. Eight children
were still living with them. They were living in the John R. Hollingsworth old
house and John R. was still living and living in the Jim household. He was 85
years old, could read and write, and was born in Al. I recollect him as an old
man with a grey beard and walking stick at my grandma McCaleb's house about
1924. He pointed his stick at me and said I better behave or he would use it on
me. Jim's children were Luther 17, Flonnie 15, Tom 13, Alfred 11, and Andy 11
(twins), Eva 7, Dottie 5, Bessie 3. Even though they were first cousins of my
daddy H, Dot and Bess were playmates of mine. I think Alf and Andy may have
been the ones that helped Hubert and I tear up the little Red Wagon daddy once
bought us. I recollect eating mulberrys from the mulberry trees near their
house. Mandy let Bessie nurse from her breasts until she was 5 years old. She
figured that was a form of birth control and didn't want any more children
after she had already had 9 or 10 kids. She didn't have any more. One or two of
her sons had already married before 1920. I believe one was Dock that went to
Ark., but not sure whether Dock was son of John R. or his son Jim
Hollingsworth. Jim was good at doing blacksmithing or anything mechanical. He
could even fabricate a moonshine whiskey still from copper tubing. His trouble
was that he went in for too much of the product from his still. It was reported
that he was so drunk when his father John R. died about 1924 that Jim nearly
fell into the grave. Jim and John R. were buried in the Wade Cemetery about 2
miles back thru the woods from Jim's house. Apparently John R. must have been
more temperate in his drinking as he lived to be about 89 years old; or perhaps
the drinking preserved him. He also knew how to fabricate stills and make
moonshine whiskey. At one time he had a license from the government to make
liquor. At other times he did it illegally, and his wife "Bess" McCaleb always
guided revenue agents in the wrong directions away from his operations. I
recollect going through a path in the woods to the Wade Cemetery, with the
younger Hollingsworth girls. The way we went was straight cross country and
about 2 miles from their house. I have been to that cemetery 3 or 4 times in
recent years. It is now nearly grown up. Markers of the past are fast fading
away. A dirt road ran that way and Old Brand Primitive Baptist Church was
there. Now the forest and some cuts where the old road lay. The saddle horses,
buggies, surries, wagons and mules have given way to paved roads and high speed
automobiles. One more thing about Bess McCaleb, John R. Hollingsworth's wife.
She didn't make the 1920 census. She died during 1917, but had time to make her
grandson, Fred McCaleb who was born 1916, a quilt before she died. The older
women back then wanted to be remembered for something, so making a quilt for
their descendants was a way to do that. I still have the quilt she made me,
though I was too young to recollect her. She made the quilt from dyed tobacco
sacks. So it is a memorial to the amount of poisoning the Hollingsworths, also
my dad, received from puffing on cigarettes. My grandma McCaleb got 3 of the $5
gold pieces Bess had at near death and gave them out to her oldest 3
grandchildren. I got one of them. It was made in 1837, the year of birth of
John R. Hollingsworth, and I still have that. It looks like it was made
yesterday. So I, Fred McCaleb have been lucky enough to live from the horse and
buggy age to the Jet airplane age and have learned to use the modern computer
which acts very much like the old mule I used to plow. Its great to be alive
to see all this in 1992.

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Friday, March 28, 2008

Log Church of Morgan County Alabama

H McCaleb Family Makes the 1920 Census