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T.H. Bolden Family - Recollections of Thomas Edward Bolden |
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[as written on Page 3 of 4] |
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Uncle Andrew was an unusual man- With
the size of his present fam., to accept 3 more full time residents was truly an act of
sheer charity. You
see, his wife had rheumatoid arthritis and was a total invalid, confined to the bed and/or her wheelchair. Mama immediately took
over the cooking, washing and household chores to help offset, in part, our indebtedness for this shelter- Uncle
Andrew had qualities befitting a Saint. He was a laborer in the fields from sunup to sundown and would come home dog
tired after such a
long day and help to care for his wife’s needs while Mama was feeding us all. The girls helped but they were
young.
I never once heard Uncle Andrew complain over the bad hand Fate had dealt him and for years & years
afterward he has
been a stellar example of inspiration to me should my spirit and courage show signs of weakening- Often if I think of Uncle
Andrew, I say a
little prayer the Lord gives him the rest he so direly needed on Earth-
Even with Uncle Andrew’s saintly qualities,
at the end of the school term, daddy moved us
out on our own. I’m
sure he had some prompting tho from Unc Andrew to remedy the undue crowded situation brought on by our
presence in his household-
Before we left Uncle Andrew’s house tho, I remember one Sunday, Mama baked some chocolate pies, one of her
specialties- I do not remember how many she baked, but it was lots. There was company present besides all of us (10) maybe 4-5
more and every body had all of the choc. pie they wanted, myself included,
for that was one of my favorites. Still is.---One other thing I remember well while we lived at Uncle
Andrews. Across
the road was a 2 story house that contained 4 families.
One family’s name was Wm. Conn fam. Unc. Wm. Was married to Aunt
Mabel, my
mother’s sister. Their oldest son, Clinton,
was about 4 months younger than I was. Coming home from
school one day, I
came upon a minister’s son beating up Clinton. I reasoned this boy is hurting my cuz., with my cuz.’s help we can
dispatch this
ruffian in short order and proceeded to pull him off of my cousin. Things didn’t work out exactly the
way I had expected them to. As soon as I pulled this boy off my cuz., instead of helping me, he made a rapid departure, & I mean rapid. Suddenly I had my
hands very full, and
I doubted the wisdom of my move. After a
couple minutes the preachers’ son asked me if I wanted to call it a draw, to which suggestion I
immediately seconded (thankfully I admit). Then I went looking for my cuz. for a few explanations about the foregoing events. I had intended to save one punch
for him for his actions but when he started crying, I canceled all plans for punishment and we had a game of marbles.
So, daddy moved us from Uncle Andrews
in Decherd to a 4 rm. house in Winchester, about 2 mi distance- I
don’t remember what mo. we moved, but we were settled there in 1933-
A very memorable year, 1933. 1933 had 3 memorable events.
(1) Aunt Mabel, Mama’s sister, died at our house in Winchester
of Typhoid fever- She was only 27. I don’t remember her passing at our house, but I figured out why I had no
memory of her passing. To make room for all the people, they sent me out to Grandma & Grampas Bolden’s house
in the country.
(2) Daddy had gone into business selling "moonshine" out of the house
& he was not only a seller but also an avid Consumer. His days began with a drink & |
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http://www.freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~boldenandpani
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