Day by Day – Life on a Childress Farm Mamie Mae Hardin Simmons

Day by DAY - Life on a Childress Farm Mamie Mae Hardin Simmons 1928 – 1929 Childress County, Texas

This is a remarkable journal of my great grandmother, Mamie Mae Hardin Simmons. She was born in 1898 in Briscoe County, Texas to John Jonathan Johnson Hardin and Mary Elizabeth “Bettie” Rhea. In 19186, she married my great grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Simmons II, who was thirty years her senior. Tom’s first two wives had died and he was a single parent.

Mamie worked as a clerk in one of Tom’s general stores in Vernon, Texas. He had at least seven that we know about, located in Tell, Odell, Gasoline, Vernon, Rockwood and Whon, Texas. In 1920, Tom decided he was going to set himself up to make some good money in farming. He sold his stores and purchased a fairly large farm south of Tell, in Childress County, Texas. At the time, it probably seemed like a good deal, crops were plentiful and settlement of northwest Texas was in full swing. Unfortunately, the twin disasters of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl were just around the corner, and those two events spelled disaster for the farm dream.

I am the grandson of Mary Oleta Simmons White, referred to in this diary as both ‘Sister’ and ‘Snooks”. On February 22, 1929, my grandmother’s dress caught on fire, while they were burning tumbleweeds. She was bed ridden for over a year and this event is chronicled in the diary. While she was suffering from major burns to 50% of her body, she and all of her siblings caught the measles. Her youngest sister, Berta Mae, died from complications.

The following are the journal entries made by her mother, Mamie from February 27, 1928 through April 13, 1929. While it is not the kind of diary that Mary Chestnut kept during the Civil War, with grand sweeping analysis, it does give a good picture of the day-to-day life of a working farm family in the early part of the twentieth century.

There are some events and thing mentioned that have fuller explanations than the brief entries in this diary. Likewise, there are references to things which someone of the modern age will be unfamiliar with. I hope that my elaborations and explanations help to illuminate, explain and maybe even entertain.

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Abstracts on Various Entries

Go-Devil and Go-Deviling This refers to a farm implement, which the common term for was a “Go-devil”. Use of this implement was thus called “go-deviling”. The go-devil has sweep blades and twin runners that run on each side of the cotton or other crop. These razor sharp blades are used to cut the roots of weeds around crops. These were extremely dangerous devices, without any of the safety items people are used to having on equipment today.

Figure 1 – A horse drawn go-devil.

October 23, 1928 – Tom got drunk Entry says, “Oct. 23, Tom got drunk, went to Tell. The full story is much funnier, in a way. This was the time of legal prohibition, where the manufacture, sale or transportation of alcohol was illegal anywhere in the United States. Because alcohol was illegal, many people in rural areas turned to making their own, commonly known as moonshine.

Squire, who rented a portion of the Simmons farm, had one such still. On the evening of 23 October 1928, Tom, his brother-in-law Bill Lentz and Squire got to drinking the moonshine. Now for those who have never drank alcohol or more importantly, never drank moonshine, a bit of explanation is in order. Moonshine is not like fine bodied whiskey or Scotch. Moonshine can be drank, it can also be used to fuel jet aircraft, space shuttles, clean the insides of oil tankers or degrease an engine. Moonshine makes Vodka seem like Kool-Aid in comparison.

At some point earlier, Mamie’s older brother, John ‘Barnett’ Hardin had gotten crosswise with at least Tom. He had threatened to shoot Tom! Now, when a Hardin says he is going to shoot you, you should probably consider it is a real threat, with consideration to other

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Hardins that have shot people (John Wesley Hardin – a cousin). There must have been some kind of family thing going on, because Zula (Bill’s wife and Mamie’s sister) and children were over at the farm. So out in the front, Tom, Bill and Squire got to drinking and got drunk. As they were talking and drinking, the subject of Barnett and his threat came up. One thing led to another and soon the three men had decided that they were going to go shoot Barnett first, before he could shoot them.

Overhearing this, the wives, Mamie and Zula, decided to hide the shotgun. They went and got it out, wrapped it in a quilt. Then with all the children following behind, they hiked all the way to the back pasture in the dark of the night, and buried it. Tom, Bill and Squire headed off toward tell, where Barnett lived, probably in Bill’s car. I don’t know if they made it to Tell or not, but Barnett was not killed – at least not then. He later died from being shot during a robbery at a Pawn Shop he was working at in Midland.

There are a number of people mentioned, and none by their full names. The following are the list of people mentioned and where known, who they are. Of all the people listed in this diary, I only know of two that are still alive in the year 2007. They are: Mary Oleta (Sister/Snooks) Simmons White, my grandmother and Franklyn Thomas ‘Buddy” Simmons, her younger brother.

Space Intentionally Left Blank

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Figure 2 – Thomas Jefferson Simmons II’s Family L-R: John ‘Dan’ Simmons, Franklyn Thomas ‘Buddy’ Simmons, Thomas Jefferson ‘Tom’ Simmons II, Mary Oleta ‘Sister/Snooks’ Simmons, Mamie Mae Hardin Simmons (author), Elizabeth L. ‘Lizzie’ Simmons. Berta Mae Simmons was the baby of the family and died as a small child, and is not pictured. Doolie was the oldest and is not in the photo.

Figure 3 Figure 4 Alexander ‘Bay’ Simmons, brother of Sophenia Josephine “Doolie” Simmons. Tom. Ruby is his wife, daughters Ida, Daughter of Tom Simmons and his second Frances and Gladys. They lived on a wife Alice Diggs. nearby farm.

Figure 5 Figure 6 John Jonathan Johnson Hardin – father of Mary Elizabeth ‘Bettie’ Rhea – mother of Mamie Mamie

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Other Names:

 Bill, Zula and Tommie Bill - the Lentz family. Zula Hardin Lentz was the sister of Mamie. They lived on an adjoining farm. Tommie Bill was their daughter – no mistake with the name, I knew her personally.  Sis was Verda May Keys (Doolie’s half sister by her mother) and Shorty was her husband.  Squire – was an African-American tenant farmer that leased part of the Simmons farm and also was the moonshine making and drinking buddy of Tom and Bill.  Mr. and Mrs. Will Hall – friends.  Mr. and Mrs. Harlow – friends.  Mr. and Mrs. White – friend who stayed a while with the Simmons. This is not my family of Whites.  Doctor Jernigan – family doctor that treated family members.  Doctor White – family doctor that treated Oleta (Sister/Snooks).  Mr. Odell – family friend that died in November 1928.  Mr. and Mrs. Rucker – family friends.  Brother Barber – preacher who did funeral service for Berta Mae.  Mrs. McFarland – friend.  Mrs. McMinn – friend.

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