The Yellow Brick Road is not lighted, nor is it paved. In fact, much like the mountain men of America's Early Expansion found out, it is tangled with briars, dark forests, crests of peaks only revealing more valleys and peaks, canyons, and unnavigable rivers. - charles w. goodwin
The Goodwin's first appear in the 1900 Census Records after stories from gramma 'Josey' telling of family in Mountain View, Arkansas. After several visits to the Clayton Library in Houston, Texas, I found listings of people who matched some of the stories handed down. A vacation trip to Mountain View took me to the old courthouse from which I found out that most of the records I was looking for were destroyed in a fire back in 1889 and then to my dismay, the county was also divided up into other counties. Well, as it was vacation, I did a lot of sightseeing and wondering if my trip was in vain.
I was eating breakfast at the local eatery on the main square and it being a small town I found friendly folks to talk to. So I started enquiring about my people asking if any names sounded familiar. I was instructed to go across the street to the rexall pharmacy as there I would probably find some 'old-timers' who knew every body and every thing in and about Mountain View. I went over and sure enough a group of men were sitting in the visiting area chatting and carrying on like old-timers do, so I pulled up a chair and started listening. After a while one of them noticed me sitting there and that I wasn't one of the regulars they were aquainted with. Their curiosity opened the door for me to ask if anyone knew Cal Goodwin as he was the one that could've still been in the area from what I gathered at the library. They all sat there with blank looks on their faces when one of them, the oldest said "Yeah, I know Cal - God, he's old! -- No, no he's dead."
Well, he commenced to telling stories of which I wished I had a recorder but didn't. He mentioned that Cal's daughter lived up on the mountain and proceeded to give me directions how to get there. Then they all started talking about Bernard pronounced bur'-nerd and Mary Stephens, spelled with a 'ph'. It seems that Bernard was a local yocal and was well known in those parts. I let them ramble on and enjoyed the tales and when all got quiet from thinking what to say next, I took my leave and followed the directions up the mountain. To my surprise, the landmarks and terrain were very much like they explained them. The old Case Cemetery, the end of the pavement, a low-water crossing that was actually a dam, tomahawk creek, and the drive that jutted off to the right so far up the steep hill and the trailer house.
I was greeted by Bernard as I drove up the drive and I asked if he knew a Mary Stephens spelled with a 'ph'. "Well yeah, that's my wife," he answered. I can't describe the joy filled adrenaline shooting through my body. "Hey Mary!, come out here, there's a young fella looking for ya," he shouted toward the trailer. When she came out, I asked if she knew Cal and William and Elbert and the other names I found at the library. Not only did she know them, she started telling me who they were, where they were buried at, (the cemetery back down the hill), and the others that lived back down the hill who I passed on the way up. I started crying, telling her who I was and then she started crying saying "So that's where Elbert got off to. He just packed the kids up and took off. Nobody knew where or what had happened to him."
So my vacation turned out ok after all. I got to meet Susan, Edna, Aunt Rachel and was taken on a tour of Case Cemetery where Markes was buried, along with Fred, some of the children who died early, and Maretta who remarried after Markes died and was buried over in a different plot by the Bickles grave. (Ancestors I didn't know about.) We visited the old Homesite, there wasn't much left of Anna's place and saw Fred's potato barn (a hole in the hill), and another site where Ora lived. A little farther up the hill was Maretta's place, however it was overgrown and there was not anything left of the house. All in all it was becoming quite a vacation.
Some time later after I returned home, we got a call from Florida. It was Ewell Goodwin, Mary's brother. She called him and told of my visit and he was so excited that He and Joyce came to Texas to visit us. He and my dad, Charles R. Goodwin became like long time buddies. It was funny, the two of them were like peas in a pod. They managed to get the family together for a reunion at Mountain View, and more relatives showed up from Calico Rock and Missouri. A good time and a lot of good stories were shared by all.