Descendants
of
Zachary Isam "Zack" Warren
James Wesley Warren
Born: March 15, 1911 in Ione, Logan County,
Arkansas
Died: May 9, 1995 in Fort Smith, Sebastian County, Arkansas
Burial: Carolan Cemetery, Booneville, Logan County, Arkansas
Mother: Jennie Agnes Craig
Father: James Arter Warren
Married: Mazel Miles Mullins in Logan, Arkansas
Wesley & Mazel Warren
Picture taken on Mazel's 75th birthday
Children:
- Billie Jean
- James Eddie
Wesley was born March 15, 1911 in Ione, Arkansas, the first son of Jim and Jennie Warren. He had four sisters: Stella, Cansada, Della, and Rose and two brothers Joe and Craig. He also had a half-brother Robert from his father’s first marriage to Etta Blair. All of the children were born in Ione, and the older ones went to school in Ione.
Wesley's father had moved to Logan County with his parents and grandparents from Jackson County, Alabama when he was six years old. His mother was born in Forrest City, Arkansas and moved to Logan County with her father and stepmother around 1887 when she was about 12 years old. Wesley's grandparents and parents were farmers.
In about 1920 Jim and Jennie bought a farm in Henscratch on Fletchers Creek that become known as the Warren Place. There Wesley and his brothers and sisters attended the Henscratch School. Wesley was nine when he moved in this house, and this is where he lived for the next seventeen years. In 1930 the Henscratch School closed, and the children were bussed to the Ione School.
Wesley's friends while growing up were in several communities around Henscratch. He had a lot of friends in Tate and then later Golden City, Logan Hall, and Carolan. Wesley, along with his brother Joe, would go to other towns such as Waldron, Arkansas and Paris, Texas picking cotton. One of his stories was when he traded his cotton patch to his brother Craig for his model T Ford.
Wesley met Mazel Mullins at a party in Golden City. Mazel already knew his brothers Joe and Craig, but Wesley had spent more time in Tate. In the fall of 1936 Mazel moved with her family to Eastern Arkansas to work in the cotton fields. On a trip back to Carolan Wesley and Mazel married on Rev. Tom Finney's front porch in Earl Prairie August 16, 1937. After marrying they stayed with his parents and friends for about two weeks, and then they moved to eastern Arkansas. They worked there through the cotton season, then moved back to Logan Hall. They moved in a house on Tate Road just south of the intersection to the Warren Place. This is where Billie was born July 26, 1938. They then moved to a house on Lester Wisley’s place in Golden City.
Around 1940 Jim and Jennie moved out of the Warren Place, and Wesley, Mazel, and Billie moved in. This is where they were living when Eddie was born May 15, 1941.
In the fall of 1942 before the crops were in, Wesley went to Tulsa looking for a job. He went to work for Oklahoma National Gas. After working two months, Wesley sent for his family. Mazel sold the farm animals and gathered part of the crops. After moving, her dad gathered the corn and her mother gathered the beans.
In Tulsa they rented the first floor of Mr. and Mrs. True's house on Admiral Place. The Trues lived on the second floor. Later the Trues moved in the garage and rented out the second floor. This is where they were living when Wesley was drafted in the Navy March 23, 1944. This area has been torn down for the expansion of Admiral Boulevard.
Wesley completed boot camp in San Diego, California and was assigned to the U.S.S. Bell in the South Pacific on June 1, 1944. On July 13, 1945 he was assigned to Mare Island, California, and this is where he was until the end of the war. He was discharged December 21, 1945. For the next year Wesley and family worked in the fruit orchards, grape vineyards, cotton fields, and sugar beet fields in southern California. They moved back to Arkansas just before Christmas of 1946.
On their return from California, they moved in a house next to the Carolan Cemetery in Carolan. In the summer of 1947 they bought their first house at 709 Sharp Street in Booneville. The back of the house was converted into a help yourself laundry. Wesley took some night classes on carpentry and plumbing at the Charleston High School on the GI bill. After a while Wesley started to work for Otto Parish Plumbing in Booneville. Mazel continued to operate the laundry.
In 1949 Wesley went to work at the Wheelbarrow Factory in South Ft. Smith for $0.75 an hour. In 1952 they got out of the laundry business and moved to a house at 709 17th Street in Ft. Smith. A few months later they bought the house at 1712 South 28th Street on April 14, 1952. Wesley had worked 27 years for the Wheelbarrow Factory when he retired in 1976. After retiring he would go back every January and work until he earned the maximum allowed by social security. He continued to do this up until his eighties. He was then told their insurance wouldn’t cover him.
After retiring Wesely would walk several miles a day picking up aluminum cans. The money earned from selling the cans financed several trips that he and Mazel took.
Wesley developed congestive heart failure and spent some time in the Veteran Hospital in Fayetteville, Arkansas. After a while he got back enough strength to resume his walks. In 1994 he developed a problem with his body not producing white blood cells. He was in and out of the hospital receiving blood transfusions. He died of a stroke on May 9, 1995.
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James Eddie Warren