Dennis White (written around 1986)
Grandpa used to tell me stories and I forgot a lot of them. One day I decided to capture some of his stories . The following are some notes I wrote sometime right after he died.
While they lived in Mounds he told that the drainage was very poor in this area. They had been cutting virgin timber stands for several years and was turning this land into farm land. The bottoms had very rich soil and cotton liked to grow here as well as corn. The flood water was so deep at times they could fish right off the front porch.
They lived on “Pecks Speedway”. This is a road that is about 1 mile north of Marmaduke on the way to Paragould. The railroad tracks are on the east side of the highway. Pecks Speedway went to Mounds, a small farming community about 4 miles East of Marmaduke.
To get timber from the bottoms around Mounds, the timber men built a road from the bottoms to the railroad tracks. The road was made of cutting logs and laying them down directly on the dirt. The logs would help support the load and float on top of the mud. As the logs rotted or sunk in the mud, a new log would be placed back on top of the pile. Teams of mules and horses would pull wagons along this road to get logs out of the bottoms to Marmaduke. A large sawmill was located just as you entered the south end of town. Later the men built a small gauge spur line from the railroad to use a steam locomotive to pull the logs out. The track was laid on top of the logs and the road was widened.
Growing up we used to drive down this road all the time. Grandpa always said the main reason it was so rough of a road was because of all the logs in the ground and they are still moving.
The timber in this area was one of the last stands of virgin timber. Wild animals of all types still lived in the bottoms. He told about panthers, bobcats, deer, wild hogs, turkey, coyote, wolves and some bears.
Grandpa rented some land about two miles west of Mounds on what is now called the Ed Reese farm. He farmed with two teams of mules. He said that mules were the best farm animals for hard work. A horse could run all day but could not pull. A mule could pull all day but could not run all day. He said that if you could stay with a mule walking though, I would not stop until it fell over dead. He did have 5 boys to help him work the land. The boys kept trying to talk Grandpa into buying a tractor. He said the teams would out work any tractor. He finally let them try a tractor (I don’t know if he bought one or borrowed one) He said they would take off across the field with the tractor, but he would always have to take the teams over to pull the tractor out of the soft dirt.
Other notes about growing up:
· Grandpa smoked tobacco rolled up in newspaper. The ink was lead based and he almost died of lead poisoning as a kid.
· Grandpa and Uncle Raymond used to like to ride calves. Grandpa Jasper would get on to them.
· Grandpa loved to box. He had a sack full of sand hanging in a tree on the way to the creek behind the house. When he would go get water, he always would stop and hit the sandbag a few time coming and going.
· He was hairy as a bear. He told about having to shave at least twice a day.
· Mom tells about her stepfather working in the bottoms cutting timber. He said there was two brothers that worked with him that lived in the hills. The younger one was big and tall. The older one was shorter and hairy as a bear. They both liked to fight. After Mom and Dad started dating she met Grandpa and found out he was who Grandpa Thomas talked about.
· Grandpa went to France during WWI. He did not tell me much about the war. He said it was a long trip over and a longer trip back. His clothes stunk so bad that when they got off the boat at New York, they pulled off their uniforms and threw them in the bay.
· Uncle Raymond was taking care of Grandpa’s favorite horse while he was in France. His horse stepped on a hole of a cave and broke its leg. Uncle Raymond killed the horse but did get to save the saddle. Grandpa was very upset about loosing the horse.
· Grandpa said they only hung Christmas stockings twice after his mother died. He said that his dad and the rest of them just could not get into the Christmas spirit. Grandma White always tried real hard to make Christmas special for her kids and grandkids.
· Grandpa had several girlfriends in Ravenden Springs and Marmaduke. (Based on the letters we found lately 2009, so did Grandma!!)
· Farmed in Marmaduke during the spring. Would go back to Ravenden Springs after crops were put in to visit Grandma. Go back for harvest, then head back to the hills for winter.
· The trip from Ravenden Springs to Marmaduke took two days. They would spend one night on the road spending the night in either Delaplaine of Beech Grove.
· People said those White Boys always road the prettiest horses in the area. They raised horses in the hills and they made their living with livestock.
· After Grandma and Grandpa got married they moved back to Ravenden Springs around 1930. Grandpa got a job blazing trees. He would count the number of trees per acre that was available to cut. Grandma would go with him and help.
· The boys had a pet squirrel that raised out of it’s nest.
Grandpa used to tell me stories and I forgot a lot of them. One day I decided to capture some of his stories . The following are some notes I wrote sometime right after he died.
While they lived in Mounds he told that the drainage was very poor in this area. They had been cutting virgin timber stands for several years and was turning this land into farm land. The bottoms had very rich soil and cotton liked to grow here as well as corn. The flood water was so deep at times they could fish right off the front porch.
They lived on “Pecks Speedway”. This is a road that is about 1 mile north of Marmaduke on the way to Paragould. The railroad tracks are on the east side of the highway. Pecks Speedway went to Mounds, a small farming community about 4 miles East of Marmaduke.
To get timber from the bottoms around Mounds, the timber men built a road from the bottoms to the railroad tracks. The road was made of cutting logs and laying them down directly on the dirt. The logs would help support the load and float on top of the mud. As the logs rotted or sunk in the mud, a new log would be placed back on top of the pile. Teams of mules and horses would pull wagons along this road to get logs out of the bottoms to Marmaduke. A large sawmill was located just as you entered the south end of town. Later the men built a small gauge spur line from the railroad to use a steam locomotive to pull the logs out. The track was laid on top of the logs and the road was widened.
Growing up we used to drive down this road all the time. Grandpa always said the main reason it was so rough of a road was because of all the logs in the ground and they are still moving.
The timber in this area was one of the last stands of virgin timber. Wild animals of all types still lived in the bottoms. He told about panthers, bobcats, deer, wild hogs, turkey, coyote, wolves and some bears.
Grandpa rented some land about two miles west of Mounds on what is now called the Ed Reese farm. He farmed with two teams of mules. He said that mules were the best farm animals for hard work. A horse could run all day but could not pull. A mule could pull all day but could not run all day. He said that if you could stay with a mule walking though, I would not stop until it fell over dead. He did have 5 boys to help him work the land. The boys kept trying to talk Grandpa into buying a tractor. He said the teams would out work any tractor. He finally let them try a tractor (I don’t know if he bought one or borrowed one) He said they would take off across the field with the tractor, but he would always have to take the teams over to pull the tractor out of the soft dirt.
Other notes about growing up:
· Grandpa smoked tobacco rolled up in newspaper. The ink was lead based and he almost died of lead poisoning as a kid.
· Grandpa and Uncle Raymond used to like to ride calves. Grandpa Jasper would get on to them.
· Grandpa loved to box. He had a sack full of sand hanging in a tree on the way to the creek behind the house. When he would go get water, he always would stop and hit the sandbag a few time coming and going.
· He was hairy as a bear. He told about having to shave at least twice a day.
· Mom tells about her stepfather working in the bottoms cutting timber. He said there was two brothers that worked with him that lived in the hills. The younger one was big and tall. The older one was shorter and hairy as a bear. They both liked to fight. After Mom and Dad started dating she met Grandpa and found out he was who Grandpa Thomas talked about.
· Grandpa went to France during WWI. He did not tell me much about the war. He said it was a long trip over and a longer trip back. His clothes stunk so bad that when they got off the boat at New York, they pulled off their uniforms and threw them in the bay.
· Uncle Raymond was taking care of Grandpa’s favorite horse while he was in France. His horse stepped on a hole of a cave and broke its leg. Uncle Raymond killed the horse but did get to save the saddle. Grandpa was very upset about loosing the horse.
· Grandpa said they only hung Christmas stockings twice after his mother died. He said that his dad and the rest of them just could not get into the Christmas spirit. Grandma White always tried real hard to make Christmas special for her kids and grandkids.
· Grandpa had several girlfriends in Ravenden Springs and Marmaduke. (Based on the letters we found lately 2009, so did Grandma!!)
· Farmed in Marmaduke during the spring. Would go back to Ravenden Springs after crops were put in to visit Grandma. Go back for harvest, then head back to the hills for winter.
· The trip from Ravenden Springs to Marmaduke took two days. They would spend one night on the road spending the night in either Delaplaine of Beech Grove.
· People said those White Boys always road the prettiest horses in the area. They raised horses in the hills and they made their living with livestock.
· After Grandma and Grandpa got married they moved back to Ravenden Springs around 1930. Grandpa got a job blazing trees. He would count the number of trees per acre that was available to cut. Grandma would go with him and help.
· The boys had a pet squirrel that raised out of it’s nest.
