27. Rachel Johnson
I'm almost postive I have this information correct, but I'm going on what my Dad told me and then some dates that I found.
burried at McAdoo, Texas
Burried McAdoo, Texas
Margaret Bass and William Nathan Stephenson were never married.
32. Samuel Jenkins (John) Stephenson
Buried in Ontario, California in the Bellevue Cemetery, 1240 West G Street, Ontario, CA.
Social Security # 462-12-7742
According to family he received the name John because his older brother Nathan could not say Jenkins, and the sound he made in trying to do so sounded like "John"--hence the nickname stuck forever.
Her mother's maiden name was Hill
Ruth's Social Security # 460-443-396
Mount San Antone Hospital--died.
Lucy was the sister of Aunt Ruth.
33. Walter James (Jim) Stephenson
Nickname: Jim
Cause of death: Liver failure, cirrhosis
Occupation: Farmer, Retired from Parks & Recreation Department, City of Lubbock
Married Jo Beth Whitten on June 2, 1991 in the Travis Baptist Church, Memphis, Texas. My Dad was 73 years old and 5' 3 1/2" tall, and weighed 177 lbs.
Died of breast cancer.
Gravesite location:
N33 45.910
W100 48.357
Memories, by Carolyn Stephenson
Memories are sometimes just a flash in the mind…a piece here and there, but does not always have the whole story. Sometimes they run into other memories and things get confused. Did this really happen this way or am I getting it mixed up with another memory. Sometimes, they are just as real as yesterday. Jenk has asked me to write things I can remember about growing up. What I remember will probably be different from what others can remember. So I will write what I can remember , but my memories tend to jump around from time to time.
The other night I was talking to Jenk and asked him if he remembered Crow-bar, her brand was a K-Bar but of course, that triggered his memory and it was actually K-Bar, the cow. I remember that ole cow. She was a favorite, because it was the only cow we had. She was all black with a white spot between the eyes. Jenk being the oldest was responsible for milking the cow, but after awhile you get tired of doing the same chore every morning and start clowning around. The best part about milking K-Bar was seeing how far we could shoot the milk across the stall into the face of a younger brother. I remember the milk being warm and to this day I can still smell that milk scent. The smell didn’t bother us, because that was the way milk smelled. K-Bar would give us a gallon of milk most of the time and mom would have the chore of straining the milk after it was taken to the house. Other times K-Bar would get restless and kick over the bucket and we would get only ½ a bucket. I remember the foam floating on top of that rich milk mixed with some dirt floating on top. But mom would strain it using a cup-towel. She would then pour the milk into a jar and set in the refrigerator over night. The next morning, Jenk would beat us all to the icebox, as we called it, to dip off the thick heavy cream to put on his cereal. Leaving very little for the rest of us to share with 3 (Linda,Carolyn,Tom) Mom would say things like “ I wanted that cream to make butter” Well, mom would skim off what was left and save it till she got more cream from other milkings. We would take that cream and “churn” it. It was put in a glass salad dressing jar and we kids would shake it and shake it and shake it ‘till it was butter. It would take bout 30 minutes to churn butter. Mom would scrape the butter out of the jar and then drain off the excess milk. She would then shape it into a rectangular shape and put it back into the icebox. That night for supper we would have fresh homemade butter. K-Bar was a good ole cow, but I don’t remember what ever happened to her.
We were living at McAdoo (in a house that daddy and Raymond Brown built after our house burned) when I first started school. I was in the first grade and Mrs. Lane was my teacher. I remember sitting next to Mrs. Lane’s desk while she listened to me read. I was always a slow reader and very quiet. Mr. McGlaughn ( I think that was his name - he is in the school annuals) was just starting his student teaching and later became my principal when I went back to McAdoo to teach in the same school). He was helping Mrs. Lane teach math. I remember him holding up math flash cards at the end of a table. I was always very quiet and seldom talked. Mom said I never really started talking until I was almost 3 years old. Aunt Lou was worried that I could not talk and said something about it to mom. Mom told her I could talk, that I just didn’t talk in front of grown ups. Mom said she could hear me talking to the other kids outside playing in the dirt with the boys, but once I came in the house I was very quiet. One time Aunt Lou was visiting us at home at McAdoo. She pulled up in her car and went into the house and asked mom ,”Who was that little boy playing with the other kids outside in the dirt.” Mom kind of laughed and said “ Lou, that is Carolyn”. Aunt Lou could not believe it because I had a burr haircut. Mom told Aunt Lou that daddy had gotten mad because my hair was always in my eyes and he told mom he could keep it out of my eyes, so he took the clippers and cut it all off. (Mom said I had beautiful curls, because I had curly hair. When she saw that all my hair was gone, she cried. My hair eventually grew back but it grew back as straight as it is today.) Of course, when daddy cut my hair off (of which I don’t remember it being cut) it didn’t bother me because I always wanted to be one of the boys. I started calling myself “Jack” and ran around without a shirt just like the boys, but I always got into trouble because I didn’t have a shirt on. Well that made me very angry because I could not understand why. The explanations I was getting didn’t make any sense to me at all.
Anyway getting back to school, we rode the bus to our little school in McAdoo. I remember standing outside on the edge of the highway up there at ma’s house waiting for the bus. I remember the highway being slanted in a steep slope. I remember when the bus pulled up I was wearing a dress and slippers. It was a very cold day and the road had ice on it and it was very slippery. I stepped out onto the highway and fell; slid all the way across to the other side. Of course my dress went up over my head. I was very embarrassed, but I didn’t say anything. I got up and got on the bus and all the kids were laughing. I felt real bad inside, but never said anything that I can remember and sat down in one of the seats on the bus. We rode buses that had a medal bar running across the top of the seat. No one even thought about safety on buses back then. But now days, because of safety reasons the bar has been removed.
A story about Tom biting his tongue after hitting that bar when we hit a bump at Swenson will come later.
Other stories to write about:
Tricycle hitting icebox at McAdoo -rode tricycle out the door and hurt head on rocks /books to train Cody/ The day Jenk busted his lips and had to drink from a straw /Tom got hurt -crain fell on him -legs at McAdoo /David -rat poison -McAdoo -Aunt Grace gave Dave egg
Jumping on the bed at McAdoo and hitting the bed rail and busting my nose-Mom thought it was broken -story will come later- using lamps at McAdoo to do home work-can still see the darkness in the house at night and see the lamp burning and smell of coal-0il or kerosene. Dust storms that would put chickens to roost during the day. The day Henry jumped of the well house at Sumac and broke his ankle . The day the tornado hit Lubbock while Jenk was in Korea. Tom setting a mouse trap under the wash table at Swenson and showed me where it was -----he told me he was going to catch me…. I forgot the next morning and caught my toe in it -of course he got a big laugh. Dave and his skunk ordeal at Swenson and the day Linda got raked off Cody’s back at Swenson when Cody walked under the tractor shed. Many more….if I can remember…..
The following is what Mom told me as I wrote it down in my book….
1945-1958- During these years-Mom and Daddy lived with “Ma” and “Pa” Stephenson from 1945-1949 and in a two room house one mile southeast of “Ma” and “Pa” ‘s house. In 1949, they moved to a one - room house under the caprock northeast of McAdoo until 1950. Later they moved into a four-room house ½ mile south of “Ma” and “Pa” from January 1950-December 1950, when house burned. While new house was being built they stayed with “Ma” and “Pa”. In April 1951 they moved into the new house that had black-tar paper on the outside. It was about ¾ of a mile from “Ma” and “Pa” until 1958. We then moved to Lubbock to 30th street.
Tommie is on his birth certificate, but Mom said it was misspelled.
According to records in the Dickens County Court House, Vol 5, Page 274 they were marred on April 25, 1940 in Dickens County by James E Hariell
She was 82 years old and had a recent birthday before passing away.
On 10 August 1983, Ray and Ava divorced, but later remarried.
35. Charlie Clinton Stephenson
SS# 461-54-9809
Gravesite location:
N 33.62384 W 100.81966
I also have a death date of May 28. I have not verified the correct one yet.
Info from Shelly Sailsbury, April 14, 2001
Info from Shelly Sailsbury, April 14, 2001
His obituary can be found at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txdicken/redmud/wyatt_jim.htm