Recollections of Christine W. Outlaw

My mother had an interesting life (1918-2001) and a positive way to look at life. Several years before she died, we gave her a blank book with the request that she jot down some notes about her life or her daily activities. She was embarrassed because she felt she could not write well enough in her later years, but I thought that I had convinced her that her notes would be a priceless gift to me. Unfortunately, the book remained blank, and I didn't push the issue. What a wonderful surprise when I went through her belongings to find that she had indeed made notes, exactly of the kind that I longed for! Likely, her plan was to use these notes as source material for entries into the blank book. Some pages appear to have been lost, regrettably.

Some entries, typically about 200 words, are about then-current activities (mostly 1993-1995), but most recount the past, particularly her childhood. A few combine both. Most viewers will prefer the transcripts, and not the original hand-written notes, which are tedious to read for content. As always, complementary narrative and images can be found by searching the index page, and I link only sparingly on this page.

The entries in the table are made more-or-less as I come across them, but they appear to be in a logical order for reading (prerequisite knowledge is presented first). Neither she nor I have edited the notes in any serious way, though I have made minor changes such as distracting punctuation or spelling errors; I want to preserve the recollections in her words and only make the changes I think she would have made on glancing back. Mama's drafts resemble mine in being a little rough on the edges, but the content is wonderful. Just wonderful. My emphasis--as I urged hers to be--has been on completion of the task, not perfection of the task. . . . the age-old lament of too many tasks competing for too little time and energy.

THIS PAGE IS INCOMPLETE AND IS UNDERGOING ACTIVE EDITING.

Last Edit 2012-10-18

Footnote 1 The sawmill community to which she refers was located east of the Mark Watson Road between Beaver Dam and the lane up to our house. Most of it was in Lot 222 (i.e., on the Buck Sutton Old Homeplace) but there was at least one well located in Lot 223 just southeast of the junction of the Mark Watson Road and the lane up to our house (as told to me by Larry Watson). Mama always warned me about those wells! When I was working on the 222 side of the lot line, I found an old brick, but who knows how/when it got there.

I do not know whether the houses faced west (toward what is now the Mark Watson Road) or whether they faced east toward a possible old road (???) no longer in existence. Another possibility is that the location of the Mark Watson Road has changed. (Mama mentions " three-path road" often but I can't be sure whether she referred exclusively to the Mark Watson Road before it went public or another road. I have previously discussed how the last historical standing house in this area was set at an angle to the Mark Watson Road.)

This letter provided the first indication that I have had that S.M. Lewis had a sawmill. Since he owned the Sam Watson Place for 20 years and his brother-in-law, my ggrandfather Buck Sutton, owned the adjacent place for those 20 years, it is probable that the wood for some of the structures on the Buck Sutton Old Homeplace were cut by Lewis. I often have wondered though if ggrandfather Buck's father-in-law, viz. Joseph N. Connell, might have had a hand in it as he operated a sawmill, too, before he moved to Florida. It is all about possibilities, not facts.

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Footnote 2 The pecan orchard on the Watson farm was located west of the Mark Watson Road and north of the settlement whereas the mulberry trees were across the road (see photo); the pecan orchard on the Sutton farm is shown here. I do not know where the mulberry orchard on the Sutton farm was located. To my knowledge, there are no wild or feral mulberries on either the W.H. Outlaw Farm or the L.S. Watson Farm.

There are also pecan trees in the back yard at the Watson place as well as in the sugar mill yard. Some are too young (seedlings) to be part of the original planting. Larry Watson recalls that his father told him that all the pecan trees on the place were seedlings.

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Footnote 3 Though not specified, it is probable that the doctor she referred to was L.A. Carter, who completed Samuel W. Watson's death certificate two years later.

Footnote 4 The division of property as Mama describes it is as I had heard many times. (I queried from time-to-time because I wondered why Aunt Bertha did not get property.) I have records of property transfers to Uncle Jim Watson, but apparently when he died, everybody ignored them as far as I know (I don't have records of the property being transferred from Jim's estate back to S.W. Watson, but my records may not be perfect. Everything is always a work-in-progress for me and I re-interpret as I go along.)

A nominal two-acre rectangle of property bounded on the west by the Mark Watson Road and on the north by Lot Line 223/192 actually doesn't have a pristine lineage. We always thought of it as going with the Grandma Place (nom 40 acres joining in Lot 192). Notwithstanding, the bifurcation of its lineage joined again at Mark A. Watson, so it is only of academic interest. One of the tenant houses sat on this rectangle--it was a small log house, with a well shelter and mule barn. It may have had more in earlier times--that's all I remember. The last occupants were Aunt Fannie Powell nee Outlaw, and her son Alva and his wife Elizabeth (later, Elizabeth Nicholson?) to the best of my memory. All of this is gone now, except an odd piece of foundation I turn up now and again.

Footnote 5 Mama's characterization of her grandfather Fountain is consistent with all I heard about him, in fact, more gentle than I heard from others. He was said not to do well himself, but blame others, and at the same time push his advice on an unreceptive audience. More along these lines are found in a later letter.

Footnote 6 She describes this location as "up in the field kindly behind the pond." I don't know for certain what her perspective was--either the old homeplace where she mostly grew up or the Georgian Keeffe house, where she lived as a very small child (up to about age 5). So, what about the ponds? Buck Bay might qualify, but "behind it" from either house would not have been on the S.W. Watson Homeplace. There are two cypress depressions; one sits on the Lot Line 223/192 line and "behind it" from either house would not have been on the S.W. Watson Homeplace. The other cypress depression sits in the south field of the Georgian place. From either perspective, there is land "behind it," and it would have been further away from the homeplace. I think, though, she was probably talking about the red-bay swamp that straddles the 222/223 line. "Behind it" from the old homeplace would have put the house near the junction of 192/193/222/223. This would have been on the S.W. Watson place (lots 223 & 192), where a tobacco barn of fairly recent vintage was in my youth. In addition, there is a cedar tree there--the only one on that land, and it (or parent plant) was probably planted by some never-to-be known plant enthusiast. Likewise, there is a sycamore in that general area. There are no other sycamores aside from saplings on the property to my knowledge. Conjecture, of course, but the preponderance of evidence is all we will ever have.

Footnote 7 A full account of this crash is found here.

Footnote 8 Mama probably mentioned this connection feeling that whoever might read the notes would know that Pleasant Watson (son of William Henry Watson) was my grandfather Mark A. Watson's first cousin.

Footnote 9 The location of Deep Ditch School and its final days are described here. Mama was in error about the year of consolidation of Deep Ditch with Nashville. School was still held at Deep Ditch in 1934, as announced in the Nashville Herald.

Footnote 10 By "Outlaw tenant house[s]", I assume she intended Joe Outlaw, who at that time owned the land adjacent to Deep Ditch School as well as another farm up the Teeterville Hiway. My grandfather L.G. Outlaw (brother of Joe) died the year Mama was born, but I can't exclude definitively that she might have been thinking of the L.G. Outlaw Homeplace (where Aunt Lena lived) or the Buck Sutton Old Homeplace (which L.G. owned at his death and which his widow, Della Outlaw, owned at the time about which she writes).

Footnote 11 The residence at the Samuel W. Watson homeplace--at least during my lifetime--had four bedrooms. The small front room to the east was the room Granny and Grandpa (Mark & Addie) used as their bedroom; this is where he kept his shotgun The large front room to the west had two beds, but in my lifetime was only used for quilting, pallets for children to take naps on, and visitors. The "side" room to the east and the side room to the west--were smaller and at one time opened onto a porch (which was later closed in and became the den). So, at the time Mama wrote about, there were two couples--the Lindsays boarded, plus Granny & Grandpa; plus, a single widow (Grandma), two girls (Mama and Lucille), and one (or two) boys (Sam (maybe, Herbert) rounded out the inhabitants. It had to have been tight.

Footnote 12 The Bob Akins Homeplace joined the Samuel W. Watson Homeplace. As I write, it is a Georgia Centennial Family Farm and is owned by Amelia Matthews nee Akins. The Bob Akins Homeplace is either very near or exactly the site of the homeplace of my 3d greatgrandfather, John E. Connell [grandfather of my grandmother Sutton], who owned all Lot 223 before the war. This land and that joining has been a bust for real-estate agents (The L.G. Outlaw Homeplace, the S.W. Watson Homeplace, the Buck Sutton Old Homeplace are all state-certified Centennial Farms, too; heck, the Buck Sutton New Homeplace is also qualified for certification, but is not located in this cluster of farms.)

Footnote 13 Sermon May is discussed at length in Footnote 18 of this link. Great little book that E.C. May left us describing how it was when he was growing up around there in the late 1800s. (rev 2012-10-17)

Footnote 14 "Beaver Dam" is, of course, a common name. She referred to Beaver Dam on the Mark Watson Road, which drains into Buck Bay, the southern property boundary for the W.H. Outlaw Farm.

Footnote 15 The residence then at the Buck Sutton Old Homeplace was located where our current residence is. The original home (which she alludes to here) burned and was replaced hastily. We removed the replacement (where Mama and Daddy set up housekeeping) to build our house. Leaving Deep Ditch School, one would travel nnw and cross Beaver Dam. Then, the lane to our house is almost due east (see below). However, to get to the Mark A. Watson Homeplace, one would continue on the public road, which sharply curves to the west, ~0.3 miles. That is, Daddy was supposed to go past his house and take Mama on up to her house. I've heard this story many times--Mama enjoyed telling it and I enjoyed hearing it, over and over.

"Lane" was used for the road in front of the Mark A. Watson Homeplace (=S.W. Watson Homeplace). In those days, coming from Deep Ditch School, cows in this lane could not have been seen: view of them would have been blocked by several buildings (large cow barn, mule shelter & lot, two pack houses, and a vehicle shed) on the east side of what-is-now called the Mark Watson Road (which runs almost due north here). Regardless, cows in this lane would not have hindered her on the way home. "Lane" was also used for the spur up to the Buck Sutton Old Homeplace, and I feel she intended this meaning. If the putative unidentified three-path road she talked about intersected with this latter lane just east of our present-day pond--as I think it did--cows would have blocked her way home and she would have been close enough for Granny Della to have heard her cry of distress. (Recall, back then, livestock roamed freely; the city of Nashville, individual residences in the country, and crops were fenced.) (rev 2012-10-17)

Granny Della's place near Lenox was the Buck Sutton New Homeplace. Greatgrandfather Buck sold his old place to my grandfather L.G. Outlaw (his son-in-law) and bought his new place. The land transactions in land lots 192, 193, 222, & 223 are laid out in this link.

Footnote 16 Uncle Buren was about a month older than Mama; Daddy was more than five years older than they. This is not the only time that Granny Della whipped Daddy about this walking-home business: once, he let her fall off the footlog at Beaver Dam and get wet.

Footnote 17 For a modern reader, interpretation is required. In broad terms, flue-cured tobacco was harvested weekly as the lower (remaining) leaves senesced; harvest lasted about 7 weeks. Thus, the day before "barn-filling day," 3 or more people would remove the cured tobacco, so that the barn would be empty and ready. (This page shows the last barn on our place.) In a typical set-up, four croppers--men in their prime--would snap the leaves off the plants and place the leaves in a crate (aka sled) that was pulled along the rows by an experienced mule. (A sled is behind Grandpa, Carolyn & me in this photo.) Another person--often a young boy--would shuttle the full sled to the barn and leave an empty one for the croppers to refill. At the barn, 2-3 stringers each accompanied by 2 handers would tie small bundles of leaves onto sticks. Finally, another person--often an older man or supervisor--would hang the full sticks on lower tiers. At lunch, the field crew would climb into the barn and space the sticks on upper tiers. The point is, a larger labor force than one family could muster was required on barn-filling day. Commonly, one family would help another on a set day of the week, and vice versa.

Mama did not mention in this note what she so often told me: Uncle Joe was a nuisance at the barn. By this time, his drinking had already begun to overtake him, and he'd come out to the barn. The hands would intimate that he looked ill, and by suggestion, he became so. He would take to bed, allowing work to continue.

Elsewhere, I have addressed Grandpa's respect for animals. Also, I should confirm the essence about Granny Watson ("Mama" in this note). Her forte was keeping everyone in work, and I hasten to add that she did set a good example. She did not like to see idle hands ("every tub needs to set on it own bottom," she'd say). Daddy once told me that the unemployment in this country would be solved if she were made Secretary of Labor, because she'd be sure that everyone was working. I believe it: After I moved to Florida State, she opined that I had moved enough ("a rolling stone collects no moss," another of her sayings). So, unilaterally and without my knowledge, she called around and finally had me lined up for a job on the loading dock at a local (Nashville) concern. Mind you, this was after I thought I was grown and able to fend for myself (married with 2 children).

mfr who see paper file fmi.

Footnote 18 Rabies was a scourge in southern Georgia in those days. See this blog.

Footnote 19 Small world. Mrs. Ludell Tyson nee Register was my teacher at Nashville Elementary also! Her parents (and later, her mother alone) lived next door to us when I was growing up. One of Daddy's assignments for me was to cut their grass, for which I was paid 25 cents, not much even back them. I don't remember caring much one way or the other; it was just the way it was.

Footnote 20 Mama did have an unnatural fear of snakes. The only time she ever really was genuinely angry with me had to do with a snake. See para 2 of this link.

Footnote 21 Mama indicates that Daddy was "small," indicating young. Indeed, his father died when he was barely six. The residence at the L.G. Outlaw Homeplace was moved off the road and used as an outbuilding. It was originally located where J. Cornelius and Lena Rowan nee Outlaw built their home, which passed to their daughter Frances Griffin nee Rowan and is now the residence of their granddaugher Sharon Dodds nee Griffin.

N.B. The sequence in Mama's notes is incorrect, but that detracts little from the essence.

Mama hit the nail dead on the head re Daddy's stories to the younger kids as I have mentioned earlier. I should mention, too, that this note provides one of the few insights I have into the personality of my grandfather L.G. I sometimes wonder if Daddy didn't resent him for dying, which put Daddy in a terrible spot. Anyhow, it is a relief to see that he had a playful personality.

Footnote 22 Cow Lake is merely a slightly wide spot in the creek.

Footnote 23 New Hope is no more. I did attend a few times-- when I was a child--finally it had dwindled down to Grandma and three other members and there was only one service per year. I remember going over with my grandparents and Mama and helping clean the church before the service--scrubbing floors (and, I do mean "scrubbing"), "sweeping" the grounds (the brooms were made by bundling several high-bush gallberry bushes, without leaves (at least, that's what they said, but chances are the brooms were made of titi as well; one swept by holding the broom at an angle to the ground), &c.

Church service was a big and l-o-n-g event. There was preaching, and when the Holy Spirit got ahold of a preacher, there was no letting go. L-o-n-g sermons, a seemingly inexhaustible supply of preachers, one after the other,. . . .and foot washing. There was at least one bored squirming little boy. The light at the end of the tunnel was dinner on the grounds, but after sitting on those wooden pews for hours, I felt sure I earned it, and it might be 3 before I got my pay-off.

I have a few transcripts of the minutes, and I hope to post them sometime. My mind is a little foggy, but I believe that Mama had the originals and loaned them to someone. Anyhow, I don't have much, but am grateful for what I do have.

Imagine sleeping with a horde of others on makeshift bedding in the cotton house(s) in the first week of August in South Georgia and in which the only ventilation was from the beating of mosquito wings. No lights, no privacy, no water, no santitary facilities, . . . and the list goes on. Just try to imagine.

Footnote 24 One can't read this entry without being reminded of Jimmy Carter's narrative (An Hour before Daylight). I recall Mama's talking about the Watson children and the Gillard children playing together.

Footnote 25 Mama forgot the year and marked it out, but probably, it was 1935. See this postcard.

Footnote 26 The lard press was an 8-quart Enterprise, which I remember using. We children were assigned to cut cubes of pork fat, which was rendered in two cast-iron pots, each nominally 15-20 gallons, set in a furnace under the wash shed. The cast-iron pots were "bought" by an antique man, who took off lots of stuff--it was late in Granny's life and she was not competent to buy and sell AND she did not have the legal authority (she only had a life-estate in the property and could not sell timber or property, but only collect the rent off annual crops and use pastures for her livestock). Shame on this man. Mama and Lucille were able to recover a little of the stuff he took off, e.g., the dinner bell, which is owned by Virginia Bailey nee Poole. The lard press was not "sold" to the man, but it and the corn sheller were removed from the estate before the property was divided. As a make-do effort, I bought and will keep an indentical press to remind me of those days. I do have the small sausage mill; Grandma Betsy gave it to Mama when she "broke up housekeeping." It is of no value monetarily, but of great sentimental value to me (. . . & I bought another identical one to use in case I relive those days some time).

The "cold storage" Mama referred to was probably the "ice house" seen here.

Footnote 27 Mama was right that she gave me additional expenses when she gave me the tractor, but the expenses were welcome. Within a few months, I had spent >$3000, likely more than the market value of the tractor. The tractor was not restored by any means, but it was put in good mechanical order. The fuel system was reconditioned (gas tank removed and lined, fuel cock replaced, rebuilt Marvel carburetor was put on, etc.) as was the electrical system (rebuilt starter and generator, new ammeter, proof meter, distributor parts, ballast, upgrade to 12V etc). Belts, radiator core, etc. It was important to me: it was the vehicle that I learned to drive on. I put a lot of hours on it after school, starting when I was really young (this is another one of those imagine moments: would you put a 10 yo out on farm equipment to operate & this was long before seat belts, ROPSs &c.?). Anyhow, I enjoyed using it in Tallahassee, though it required a lot of upkeep. It was finally put out to pasture at the farm when I bought my Kubota to use in Tallahassee in Spring, 2011.

Likely, the first tractor that Grandpa bought was this tractor, either a John Deere LA or a tractor that looks like one. I never saw this tractor, but I did see his John Deere "tricycle" tractor, an A or B or similar, which he traded for the Workmaster I have. I can't say exactly what the model was, but I do remember the slow putt putt.

Footnote 28 A few facts provide context. Overall, in the U.S. (2011 data) white people account for 78% of the population whereas black people account for 13%. Because of slavery, the situation is different in Georgia (31% black, 62% white). In Berrien County (GA), however, where slavery was very limited, the demographics stands in sharp contrast, even to surrounding counties (Berrien: 11% black, 86% white). According to Mark Dixon, the black population actually came primarily from turpentiners' moving in, and was not a residual effect of slavery (I have not examined the relevant census records myself). Thus, Berrien County does not fall in the post-war stereotype of white landowners and black tenant farmers. With this understanding, Sam Gillard's arrangement for his replacement takes on added significance, i.e., indicative of a respectful relationship with Grandpa. The side-by-side working relationship of peoples in Berrien County must have contributed positively to racial relationships compared with other parts of the South.

Footnote 29 Although she doesn't explicitly say that she refers to Deep Ditch, and not Nashville, the context indicates so. For example, elsewhere, she indicated that Grandpa always took them to Nashville, so that would not have been a stand-out. In the same vein, she indicated that Grandpa went to Nashville after he got the list of books needed.

Footnote 30 Recall, Mama was born in 1918, and this (Historical Notes, Berrien County, 1856-1956) for context: "The first tobacco warehouse in Berrien County was built by Alvah W. Gaskins. It was named the PLANTERS. A big barbecue celebrated its opening in 1919. This was the second warehouse in the State of Georgia." It would appear that Grandpa was not on the first wave of tobacco planting, but soon joined in.

Footnote 31 I recall a cattle vat and remember watching cattle moving through it. The one I recall--which looked like this one--was probably the same as she recollects. Thus, her "original land line" probably refers to the 238/239 line (10th Land District, originally Irwin), and the more exact location was just west of the Skeet Range Road perhaps 100 yards south of its junction with 168 (which we now call the Homerville Hiway). Thousands of these vats were paid for by the government beginning ~1906. They used arsenic until the ticks--which carried a fever--became resistant and then switched over to other pesticides. Unfortunately, these chemicals enter groundwater and are a threat to human health. More on this legacy of cattle dipping can be easily found on the www; at least Florida has a program to locate these sites (Georgia's EPD does not have a program re these vats, and my inquiry to Georgia's ag department was not answered). I do not know anything about the current status of the vat under discussion (it is on private land, and I do not trespass). I do not know when the vat was constructed, but it had to have been during our family's ownership of the land--off the cuff, I can't be too specific, but in broad terms, SM Lewis (Daddy's half-sister, Lena's, grandfather and also spouse of Daddy's grandfather Sutton's sister) bought the land in the early 1890s ( I think) and sold it to his daughter Ardelia and her husband, L.G. Outlaw (my grandfather) sometime before early 1907, when Ardelia died (I know). Then, it was owned 3/4 undivided interest by L.G. and 1/4 by Lena, until L.G. died in 1918, after which it was then transferred by agreement to Lena and most of it remains in the hands of her heirs.

Footnote 32 More on J.D. Holland and his father-in-law, T.H.T. Sutton can be found in FN 33 of this link and in this link.

Footnote 33 The inclusion of father and son Luther and June Akins as one(s) who helped stump the road stems from a recollection by Samuel L. Watson as told to his son, Larry S. Watson, who relayed it to me. At this writing (2012-10-04), I think that Luther and thus June Akins was a descendant of William Green Akins (see FN 18 of this link) and not descended from or closely related to Bob Akins (FN 12, above). I caution that I do not know these Akins pioneers as well as I hope to one day. Luther and June had places on the Mark Watson Road just north of Hiway 76. (rev 2012-10-18)

Footntote 34 Elison Hendley is mentioned in several places in Southern Matters, especially here.

Footnote 35 My pilgrimage to Berry is found at this link (This--like all pages on Southern Matters--is under a constant state of revision and correction.)

Footnote 36 The location of Lone Star is reported as 31.1543547, -83.5182193, which is 6-8 miles of west of I-75 on Hiway 37. This location is presently in planted pines with no evidence of a building.

Miss Minnie Shaw (History of Cook County, mostly written/compliled in 1930-32) had this to say about Lone Star:

In 1928, the three small schools of Center, Union, and Lone Star consolidated forming Lone Star Consolidated School. This fine school is located 7 miles west of Adel. It is another gem of beauty, being built of stucco and modern in every sense of the word. It is nicely furnished and is in a community where the school spirit is as fine as can be.

This school has a fine faculty. Mr. Tom Griffin is superintendent and Misses Lazelle Crosby, Odessa Cannington and Mrs. Finous DeVane compose a splendid faculty. The Lone Star trustees are Messrs. A.L. Crosby, C.M. Howell and J.C. Morris.

(rev 2012-10-18)

Footnote 37 A brief description of the house the Wades lived in and its location is found in this 19 MB pdf on page 10, C. Historical structures, para A.

Footnote 38 The Robinson Place was somewhat northwest of the Alapaha-Lenox Road and is the topic of Slide 45 of this link.

Footnote 39 Mama did not mention it in this letter, thinking that it should be obvious that she was pregnant with Carolyn at the time; Aunt Bessie could not have been too far behind her (Fayne was in the same grade in school as Carolyn).

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