Storing And Preserving Food

There was no way to store, preserve, or save vegetables except for dried peas, onions, corn, beans and potatoes. But even those were eaten by pests. Barns were filled to the roof with corn in the fall, but in the three months of December, January and February it was just about gone. Much of it eaten by the rats and mice. As the Bedsoles acquired additional livestock and had more children over time, this problem was magnified due to the initial houses, barns and cribs being painfully small and no longer capable of holding the increased need for an adequate supply of food and feed and the lack of vegetable preservation for long periods of winter weather.This of course, necessitated the enlargement of existing, and/or construction of new, larger storage buildings, all of which added to the already terrible daily workload.

In short order, with no way to protect their buildings from termites, rats and other destructive pests, but due primarily to leaks in the roofs, the barns and cribs became ramshackle, falling down, dilapidated buildings, sitting close to the ground, full of grub worms, weevils, rats by the thousands, snakes, beetles and other bugs coming in through the thousands of holes and cracks in the walls, floors and roofs. These pests were all eating the corn and other winter food which had been saved for the families.

Bears quickly learned that the smokehouses contained meat and they lost no time in ripping and tearing their way into these flimsy structures and eating, scattering, spoiling and destroying the contents. This required immediate attention when it happened, because meat was a commodity which was widely and highly treasured as food and for trade. Many times the protection of the meat meant someone had to stay up and guard the smokehouse every night. This also meant one less person to work in the fields to produce food. Whatever corn could be salvaged for food, had to be taken to a mill or hand-ground with rocks into meal for cornbread from time to time. Since one-third of the meal had to be given to the mill owner in payment for the grinding, too little was left for the family to last out a long winter season.

Because of all the bugs and rats, when the women started to cook cornbread, they had to spend an hour before that picking the weevils, worms, and bugs out of the meal. Nobody worried about things like rat and mice droppings which were too small and numerous to pick out of the meal. It was just considered "Favoring" for lack of a better word.

There was no way to keep green vegetables through the winter months, but potato's were stored by digging a hole in the ground about 4 feet across and 3 feet deep, lining it with dry pine straw, filling the hole with potato's, then covering them with more pine straw. The turpentine in the straw would keep out the rats, bugs and worms. Hand made wooden shingles were made and stuck in the ground around these holes at an angle leaning towards the center so they formed a kind of teepee. The shingles were then covered with about a foot of dirt. But the problem was, if just one potato started to rot, as they usually did for any reason at all, the entire lot was lost within 3 to 5 days. In general, the most the farmers could hope for was half of what was stored to last long enough to be eaten. That meant they had to produce and store twice as much as they needed in order to have enough for the winter months after spoilage and pests were taken into consideration. But that meant more cleared land, more planting and constant cultivation until harvest time.

The various but increasing needs of these families constantly demanded more and more time and labor. Dried Peas and beans could be kept in bags but many times those were not available. When they were, the rats soon ate holes in the bags and pests of every kind got to them too. In the summer, everybody had so much work to do they had little time to prepare, plant and take care of a garden. Work in the fields was a twelve months a year, seven days a week, fourteen hours a day job. Hunting was limited to meat for food, or animal hides, for clothes and bed covers. It was generally not done for fun or pleasure.

Many people could not really afford a gun and with so many kids around all the time, they were afraid to have one. However, due to the danger from Indians and wild animals, almost everyone eventually acquired a gun from necessity. But with the smaller wild animals such as rabbits, possums and raccoons and the inaccuracy of the guns at longer distances, the only choice for getting these small animals was traps and animals were usually too smart to fall for traps. So meat was a real rarity and a huge treat when acquired. Invariably, all the neighbors came over to share when it was acquired by any family.

In due time, a log store was built near the Beaverdam settlement and trade became a way of life. The settlers and Indians traded with and among the store and themselves and of course, the people all traded with the store owner. They traded cloth, sugar, salt, grease, eggs, skins, leather, vegetables, fruit, lead, gunpowder, smoked meat, corn, lumber, shoes, farming tools and etc. and in a constant stream, more and more such goods made their way from the supply ships and ports from England to Louisiana, Virginia, North Carolina, New York, Philadelphia and other ports in the “New Land” and then to the frontier settlements via wagon trains. Marauding Indians quickly learned to rob and steal these supplies and many times, to kill the accompanying people. The addition of guards to these wagons followed, but this necessitated higher prices being paid by the settlers and farmers for the goods being transported, due to the cost of the guards to the transporter.

Washing Clothes; A Big Job

Carrying water for washing clothes was a long and tedious job added to the copious firewood requirement for this task. On washday, the work usually began at 3 o’clock in the morning, with the filling of the washpot, which was a big, 3-legged iron pot always sitting in the backyard. It held about 30 gallons of water, which meant 20 to 30 trips carrying water to the pot, then the same to get more for rinsing. When the spring or stream was a thousand feet away, that meant 60,000 feet, or about eleven miles of walking just to wash clothes.

The fire was started with a huge pile of wood around and under the pot. This would allow the water to start heating up, while breakfast was prepared and the mules, oxen and cows were fed and watered. The washing of clothes would begin about five o’clock in the morning and would last until six o’clock in the evening. Days before this, soap had to be made by boiling fat meat and lye to produce a greasy type of “soap”. If no fat meat was available, clothes had to be washed in plain water. So on wash day, this blob of “Soap” was cut into bar shapes and used to wash the dirtiest of the clothes.The job of making soap and washing clothes always fell on the women and older daughters, if any were available. The clothes were boiled in the soapy water and each piece carried by a short, narrow board from the pot to the “battling block” (Batting Block)which was a block of hickory or oak wood mounted on 3 legs so that the flat end of this block was available like a cutting board upon which the clothes were placed one piece at a time and beaten and put back into the pot for more boiling, until clean.

This beating acted sort of like an agitator does in present-day washing machines to clean the clothes. Of course, beating them wore them out a whole lot sooner too.

When all the clothes were thus washed, boiled, beaten and then rinsed, they were hung out to dry on bushes, a fence, or whatever was available. The lye soap used for this, was so caustic, at the end of wash day, the small hands of the women and girls had big, very painful, raw places on them where large pieces of skin had been eaten and torn away by the caustic lye and hard work with the board. These raw places usually took about two weeks to heal, just in time for the next washday. This work was a nightmare in the summer, due to the heat of the fire around the pot. But during winters it was much worse. Imagine how cold one would get wearing thin, ragged clothes, standing outside in the ten degree-wind all day and also staying wet most of that time.

Mules And Oxen; True Beasts Of Labor

These animals were the backbone of just about every job the farmers did and labored constantly from dawn to dusk for endless days, weeks, months and years They were little-appreciated and seldom given any credit or recognition for all their labors and accomplishments. In fact, most early settlers usually beat their animals mercilessly all the time with long switches to make them pull harder to pull up stumps, pull plows, pull heavily loaded wagons, work faster and endless other such tasks.

They were never given anything more than food and water, but were always kept penned or tied up when not working. They were never allowed to roam free because of the inability of their owners to control and recover them. Sometimes they broke out of their pens during the night, causing a major uproar when they were found to be missing. If they wandered off and were captured by someone else, the rightful owner had the problem of proving ownership and resulting arguments over this, frequently erupted into fights, killings and feuds between, by, and among, the parties involved, because the livelihood and very survival of the owner and his family depended to a very great extent, if not totally, on these animals.

These beasts of burden however, were well known for being mean, hateful, stubborn, stupid and almost always murderous, and people were very wisely cautious around them. Weighing around twelve hundred pounds, maybe more, they would bite, kick, trample, hook and stomp whoever was ignorant or absent-minded enough to get within range, including their owners, and many adults and children were frequently seriously injured, disabled, or killed by them. Catching and harnessing or hitching these animals to plows, wagons, stumps and other things always required extreme caution on the part of their handlers who were many times relatively young.

I remember one case in my own life, back in the 1930’s, when a fifteen year old neighbor of our’s was riding their mule from the field to the barn one late afternoon, when the mule suddenly went into a fit of rage, bucking and kicking and threw the boy head over heels up in the air. He landed on his back on top of a stump about thirty inches high. It broke his back in several places and there was nothing at all the doctors could do for that kind of injury in the 1930's. He was bedridden and his parents had the difficult job of turning him every few hours, all day and all night, until he finally died, almost two weeks later. I can still hear him screaming every time they tried to move him. I cannot imagine the suffering and torture his parents had to live through, during that time.

Planting Time

In early spring, the cleared land had to be plowed under with a plow pulled by two mules, or oxen which were more plentiful than mules.

These plows had a kind of steel “wing” on them, which turned a strip of dirt about 6 inches wide, upside down and when a field was finished, it was ready for planting. Imagine plowing a field of 200 acres, 6 inches at a time, taking about 20 minutes for one pass, or from one end of the field to the other. The amount of time and the walking and handling of the plow and team was very demanding, difficult and time-consuming.

Once the field was prepared for planting, if not already on hand, the corn, cotton or other seeds had to be somehow acquired, either through purchase or some kind of trade. Corn was planted with two kernels every 30 inches. An extra kernel, in case the first didn’t sprout. We now know that corn planters in modern day Nebraska and Kansas, successfully plant 90 or more seeds in the same 30 inch strip, producing 30 to 50 times as much corn on the same piece of land. Nevertheless, the old way of planting persisted until about 1950.

So the harvest back then was pitifully small for all crops, due to the ignorance of the settlers, further worsening their already pathetically deprived lives, due to small crop yields. Low production also meant they had less to eat and to trade, for things they desperately needed all year long. The reason they planted so few seeds was the belief that they would “overplant” and “Burn out” the land. At a time when their very survival depended upon their ability to produce, their actual knowledge, beliefs and actions in such production was vastly inadequate and contrary to their needs for production, consumption, survival and prosperity.

Bedding Cane

This was a long, hard job done in the fall, when everybody cut down the stalks of cane, dug a hole about four feet deep and sixty feet long, piled the stalks in it and covered them with about three feet of dirt. This was to preserve the cane through the winter and keep it from freezing and bursting, thereby becoming useless. However, during the coldest part of winter, some cane would be uncovered and the leaves stripped from each stalk, the stalks chopped into one-foot lengths and each piece planted in the field in preparation for growing and harvesting it and making syrup.

This was a hated and dreaded job, because the cane was covered with ice in the winter and without gloves, the hands would freeze and become numb and then, over and over, had to be thawed out so they would work again. This meant frequent periods of excruciating pain when they were thawing out. Nobody had gloves back then and even if some had been available, the Bedsoles could not have afforded them, as they were considered an unnecessary “luxury”.

Making Syrup

This was another back-breaking job, always performed in the worst of winter, usually January and February, because this was a period of relative “down time” in the fields and farming. The cane, which had been cut and stripped of leaves and tops was now hauled to the cane mill, usually located in the pasture. The mill consisted of two barrel-like iron rollers, mounted on 3 spraddled legs.

The rollers turned against each other and crushed the cane between them. They were turned by a mule, which pulled a long pole round and round, turning the rollers through a set of steel gears.The juice poured from the rollers into a collector vat, or barrel, then strained through a piece of cloth, poured into a cooking vat about five inches deep, four feet wide and six feet long, tilted slightly, but with baffles in it to slow down the flow of the juice towards the spout at the opposite end of the vat, thus allowing it more time to cook.

With a roaring fire, (which means someone had to cut, split, haul, and stack wood, for days) under the vat, the juice slowly cooked, evaporating the water in it, as it oozed to the other end of the pan where it poured out in a small, steady stream of syrup, into cans, jugs, or even into 55 gallon barrels. If this juice was undercooked, it had an awful, “flat” taste and if it was cooked too long, it was burnt and the taste, although different, was nevertheless just as awful. So, proper cooking time and temperature, were absolutely necessary. Great knowledge and skill were needed to avoid wasting this very important food and trade item.

Acquiring Firewood

Cold weather was a real problem back then and a never-ending source of suffering and sickness. But the constant shortage of adequate food, was the absolute worst of all problems they had to deal with every day. Mountains of firewood were needed all the time. In the summer, it was used for cooking. In the fall, cooking, smoking meat. In the winter, it was needed to heat the house. It was needed all the time for washing clothes, making soap and the cane mill.

So, for long full-time periods of labor and in any spare time, the Bedsoles sawed down trees, trimmed trees, sawed up logs, chopped limbs, split logs, toted wood, loaded wood, hauled wood, stacked wood and then repeated it all in the hunt for "Literd" (Lighter wood), which was old, dry pine stumps and the hunt for what was called knots, or literd knots which were rich in pitch and resin and which were used by everyone to start fires. Because of this, pine stumps were kept and dried out. The literd was cut into fine splinters which were easily lit and which, due to its high turpentine content, burned fiercely for a very short time, but hopefully long enough to dry out and set fire to the regular firewood stacked on top of it, usually consisting of split pine.oak or hickory wood was preferred because these burned slower and produced a hotter fire.

But oak and hickory were hard, dense wood and required much backbreaking chopping and sawing to produce firewood. The problem was, with the unbelievably tiny fireplaces inside houses back then and with all the holes in the walls, floors and roof's, there was no way in the world to get warm in the winter time. Once they thought the settlers had enough mountains of wood, for the fireplace to last all winter, that work temporarily slacked off, but then it was discovered they had to do it all over again for the cane mill, washing clothes and for the making of soap.

In the winter, they had to put so many covers and animal skins on the bed to keep from freezing, they could barely turn over with all that weight bearing down on them.

After supper during winter, everyone always had to shell peanuts, shuck corn, work on leather, repair stuff, or do something for another three hours before going to bed. So they sat in the “living room”, which always had two or three double beds in it anyway and sniffled and froze to death while they did that work too. They couldn't wait to get in bed and hopefully warm up some.

Nobody had adequate winter clothes, so everybody froze equally. Most people wore 2 pair of breeches, two shirts and some kind of coat, if any or all of that was available, which was seldom the case. Some wore animal hides as overcoats. But no matter how tired people got, there was no such thing as a vacation or time off. Any time off meant someone else had to take up the slack and this was usually followed by a period of less to eat.

Seeds

Producing, preparing and storing corn, peanuts, cotton and other seeds meant they had to be bagged and stored as they were prepared. The shelling of peanuts and corn was always done for days and usually lasted long into the nights, until the smaller kids couldn't stay awake any longer.

With the passage of time and the time-consuming tediousness of the seed work, someone hit on the idea of holding a "Peanut Shelling" at his house one Saturday night and the word spread that single people were invited and there would be a "cake walk" for them.

That meant everybody there would have to shell one "pan" of peanuts (about five gallons), more or less. With people usually living two miles or more apart, the single people were desperate for a chance to at least see a member of the opposite sex if nothing else and they were all excited and showed up in droves and any single women always had their parents, or older brothers, as escorts/guardians.

Three men, who could make a reasonable attempt at music, played a guitar, fiddle and banjo. After the peanuts were shelled (the farmer tried to get all of them shelled he could) the cake walk was held. In this case, everybody moved out into the front yard, kerosene lamps were placed on the front porch, lighting the yard at least some. A circle with numbered squares was drawn in the dirt. The music started, the single people found themselves a partner, usually someone they had never seen before and holding hands (the greatest thrill), began walking around the circle as the music played. This was considered very romantic, especially by the girls. Being able to hold a girls hands was more than the single guys had even hoped for. The music stopped and everybody stopped. A number was drawn out of a hat and called out and the couple in that numbered spot, was the lucky couple and they could go off in a corner somewhere together, but not too far away and certainly not out of sight, and eat their cake. Cake's were brought by several of the females and were considered an expense incurred to get the daughters married off. Eventually, over a period of time, these affairs evolved into full-blown music and dance get-togethers, but was not popular at the same house twice in any given year as one could almost always count on such turning into a knock-down, drag-out, free for all fight, before it was over, because someone would always bring moonshine (A big no-no) and start getting drunk and/or someone would do something or say something offensive to someone else.

However, out of consideration for the homeowners and their wives, the party goers would stash their moonshine at the edge of the yard, or in the woods near the house and not actually bring it into the house, as the homeowner was certain to take offense. This homemade whiskey was called “Moonshine” because it was usually made by the light of the moon, deep in the woods, for privacy.

This is absolutely the nastiest, hottest, most exhausting and despicable job anyone could ever do. As it was done back in the 1700’s, it was still being done like this in my lifetime: The pine trees were scarred by cutting the bark 6 to 8 times in the shape of letter V’s, so that all the points of convergence of the cuts, caused the resulting “Bleeding” turpentine to flow down the cuts and drip ever so slowly into small oblong, metal cups, mounted and fastened to the trees with nails.

Every 15 days or so, each cup had to be cleaned and scraped out and all the turpentine collected from them emptied into small, twenty gallon barrels, which were then carried by two people, to the waiting mule or ox-drawn carts or wagons where it was poured and scraped into forty-five gallon barrels. This was then carried to a “mill” where the turpentine was cooked until the majority of water in it had evaporated and what was left was a dark-colored, thick, sticky goo, which is true tar.

This was sold and traded for other, more needed goods. It was also shipped to England where it was used to soak tough hemp cords which were then used to pack into and seal cracks between the planks of the hulls of ships. Much tar was needed by England and as time went on, with more and more such ships being produced in this country, more and more tar was bought, sold and traded here too. The big problem was, the worker invariably got the sticky turpentine all over himself, his hair, clothes, hands, tools, barrels, boxes and everything else he touched or came into contact with.

Religion Back Then

When without a church, and at the earliest opportunity, the people would gather and begin building a “Brush Arbor”, which consisted of several sapling trees, cut down and trimmed and set into the ground as uprights. This was then crisscrossed on top with more small limbs and covered with small, leafy limbs and grass, to provide a kind of shelter to ward off the hot sun and the nightly dews. Crude benches were also crafted from half-logs with wooden pegs as legs, which served as seats. The Brush Arbor was usually built in the edge of someone’s pasture and was used as a temporary church. People then were very religious and faithfully attended their churches and practiced what they preached in terms of their personal conduct, speech, and daily practices.

Almost all the early Bedsoles belonged to a church, usually of the Quaker faith. Those churches were very strict about their members and anyone living in the area who did not join, or who were "kicked out " would be shunned and ostracized by church members. Little or no credit was extended to them. Trade with such neighbors was almost non-existent. The non-members could not count on help when it was needed from their neighbors. So, it greatly benefitted all to join the local church. Not to do so, was certain to end in numerous additional hardships for the family of the refuser.

Any time a church found out that one of its members was drinking alcohol, mistreating his wife or children, being unfaithful to his wife, or was otherwise derelict in the conduct of his personal life, the church pastor and elders would meet and discuss the situation and approve a plan of action to force the wayward member to mend his ways. Two or three elders together, would go visit the person and point out the problems and outline what was required for him or her, to get back within the good graces of the church. If they failed to mend their ways, they were visited again and warned that this was their last chance. If that failed, the wayward member was kicked out of the church.When a member in good standing, moved to another location, they could request a letter of transfer from their local church to the church at their new location and stay in good graces with the church. However, they were only allowed 30 days to be accepted into the new church. Church members enjoyed benefits such as; When anyone got sick, or injured, everyone gathered there and did whatever they could to help care for the party in need, including caring for babies and children, the family, cooking, milking cows and doing all the farming, cultivating, planting, harvesting and other chores normally done by that party. Knowing that tomorrow, the person in need could very well be any one of them, this practice was looked on as a very valuable thing to have in ones life, together with the ability to trade among themselves. Caring for each other meant survival, living or dying, in many cases.

Preachers and pastors were key people in everyone’s lives and were always treated with the utmost respect and courtesy and was especially cared for by all the families in the area. It was common practice to invite the Preacher and his family to ones house for Sunday dinner where the host family always prepared the best food they had for the meal.

HARVEST TIME

Velvet Beans

Picking Velvet Beans was pure torture. They were planted among the corn, so the bean vines would have something to grow and run up on and multiply. They were used primarily for cattle feed. Picking velvet beans was one of the most despicable jobs, next to cotton. The beans are each covered with a thick coating of small velvety hairs which all have reversed barbs all along the hair, so if the hair sticks in your skin which it will, the thing could not be pulled out and would break off instead.

The itching and stinging of the skin were horrendous and impossible to describe. The settlers all wore heavy, thick, guano sack shirts and the thickest pants they had, which were usually made of leather or hides. The legs were tied around the ankles really tight. The shirt collars were buttoned all the way up. The shirt sleeves were rolled all the way down and tied tight around the wrists. Still, the velvet got inside the shirts, up the sleeves, up the pants legs, and inside the clothes. With the weather around one hundred degrees in the summer and the humidity at about ninety-five percent and these beans being down among the corn where no breeze could get to the workers, picking them dressed as they were, was pure torture for days on end. The weaker workers frequently fainted from aggravation and heat exhaustion.

Gathering Corn

The ears of corn had to be pulled from the stalks and put in a sack with a strap which was worn around the neck. The leaves on corn stalks are also lined on each side of the leaf with reversed needle-like stingers and a leaf will cut ones skin like a knife. Then the sweat would get in the cuts and burn like fire. By the time they had been carrying that fifty pound bag of corn around their necks and dumping it in the wagon for twelve hours, their shoulders and backs would be throbbing and hurting so badly, they could hardly keep from crying.

Working among the stalks of corn meant no breeze could get to them and the heat was torture. Every time their sacks were full, it was carried and emptied into the mule-drawn wagon. When the wagon was full, the corn was hauled to the barn and unloaded and stored inside. With one hundred or more, acres of corn, this was no small job. Corn was used primarily for animal feed and for meal and human consumption in the form of cornbread. If the family had children age five or higher, they did much of this work. Its hard to imagine today’s children doing any such job, even for five minutes.

Harvesting Tobacco Leaves

With England demanding all the tobacco they could get, while paying cash for it and taking it in trade, our ancestors planted and harvested a lot of tobacco. When the tobacco plants were only about 2 feet tall, the leaves became covered with leaf-eating, long, ugly, green tobacco worms, which had to be picked off of each leaf by hand. Since these worms usually stayed on the bottom side of the leaves, that meant each leaf had to be turned upside down in order to see and remove these worms. Once removed, the worms had to be placed in a sack and destroyed when the sack was full. During the summer months, the tobacco crops had to be tilled to keep the grass from growing, because the grass reduced their leaf production and stunted the tobacco plants and resulting crop.

In the fall, the tobacco leaves were picked and tied in bundles of perhaps twelves leaves. These were then hauled from the field in mule, or oxen-drawn wagons and the bundles were taken to a “Drying house”, which was usually a large barn with large vent holes in the roof so that the hot summer air could flow through the building and dry out the leaves. When the leaves had thus cured “just right”, meaning the leaves looked, felt and smelled right, meaning they were golden brown in color and felt leathery, they were removed from the drying building and were delivered to a collection point to be sold or traded and shipped to England to be used for smoking, dipping, or chewing tobacco.

Catching Fish

One could always count on getting stuck with a couple of long and very painful fins. A favorite way of getting fish was to put out "set hooks". This meant hunting, cutting and preparing small cane poles, lines, weights, hooks and bait and carrying them to the river and sticking them in the banks upstream from where the fishermen camped. Another way was called “Setting a trot line”. It was called “trot” because everyone would trot to the end of the line which was usually one hundred to two hundred feet long, tied between two trees, just below the waters surface, with a line and hook tied to it every 18 inches. Sometimes, the trot lines were tied on opposite sides of the river, or creek, but was usually tied across the mouth of a “slough” (“slew”), which was a pond cut off from the stream. This sounds like fun, but when you have to set 200 to 300 of these and go around to them 3 times during the night to take off the fish and re-bait the hooks, fun it ain't.

Everybody constantly slid or fell into the river and stayed wet all night. Another big, pain-in -the- butt job which went with this was spending two to three days hunting and collecting "Puppy dogs" (salamanders, or spring lizards), for bait. They hid under logs and stumps and piles of wet leaves in the swamps, but only in the swamps, which meant you had to slog through the muddy, nasty, swamp. This was the only bait which was free and which the big "Channel cat" catfish would bite.

People couldn't afford to waste time and energy on anything fish would not bite. This exercise was to produce food for starving families. It was not a side dish, nor something they picked up at the supermarket, since there was no such thing then. They were fishing for their families to have food and for their very lives. The next day, it usually took several people an entire day to skin and clean the catfish, cut them up and fry them. At the table to eat, needless to say, was any neighbor crowd who had gotten the word.

Settling Up: My Own Experience

For those Bedsoles fortunate enough to own their own land, harvest-time meant they picked, hauled, traded, stored and sold their produce and crops, for cash and/or trade-goods. But the vast majority of them, like us, ended up being share-croppers.That means they would work all year for a landowner and when the crops were harvested and sold in the fall and the costs deducted, the landowner would theoretically share the difference with the sharecropper. However, since the landowner had made advance arrangements with a store owner to allow the farmer a specified amount of credit during the year for food, clothing, and farming tools, the cost of all that had to be deducted from the profits before any profit was divided between them.

In sharecropping, the landowner would guarantee payment in the fall to the store owner and the farmer was always forced to almost starve his family because the landowner would set such a low credit limit, such as $300 for the entire year. Even back then, that was not a lot of money. The farmer simply could not adequately provide for his family on such a small pittance.

In addition, the landowner and storekeeper but not the farmer, kept “the record” all year, since the farmers could neither read nor write, this left the storekeeper and landowner free to overcharge the poor farmers, whatever they could get away with. But, that’s how share-cropping was done and had been done as far back as anyone could remember. My own parents also were typical share-croppers their whole lives and that’s how we lived. In late 1926, when his own father died, my dad, being the oldest son and responsible for his fathers estate, entered into verbal agreements with a store owner in Alabama, who eventually foreclosed on him and took all my grandfathers land, eleven houses and property and left us no choice but to become share-croppers.

This did not mean a lot of difference in living for us, though. Although my dad could probably have prevailed in court in this case, he was very ignorant of the law and procedures and his word was his bond. Unfortunately, he thought everyone else with whom he did business was also as honest. That was and still is, a very big, very costly, and very sad mistake. One I still make myself, which gives you some indication of my level of stupidity and total lack of intelligence. Anyway, share-cropping meant the landowners made their living, fortunes as it were, and very existence easier by riding on the backs of the poor, ignorant, desperately starving sharecroppers. In their despicable ignorance, the Bedsole share-croppers were horribly mistreated in that regard from the beginning in this country until they quit being sharecroppers.

"Settling up" was something which was done about the end of December, every year. I was fourteen or fifteen when I was finally allowed to go to one with my oldest brother, Bill. We went to the landowner's house, went inside and sat down with him at the table. He got out a shirt-pocket size notebook and started adding up the "costs". Since the way to settle up, was for the landowner and he alone, to determine how much the farmer owed, we just stood there as he read off the endless list. Once my brother said he didn't remember picking up four hundred pounds of fertilizer. Bill said it was three hundred pounds and the land owner immediately flew into a rage. How dare Bill question him. There it was in black and white in that notebook. In the end, as was the custom, the landowner told Bill he still owed three hundred fifty dollars, above what the “profits” were, and how we would have to stay and farm another year for him.

As Bill and I were walking back home in the dark, although I was only fourteen, I was astounded and appalled at the obvious, total scalping we had just witnessed. I began to question Bill mercilessly about the total lack of evidence and how in the world did we know what the landowner said we owed was accurate. Why didn't we keep a list too and why didn't we have to sign for everything and how did we know the storekeeper didn't pad the bill to the landowner, together with the landowner's padding . I was furious at the total absence of any type of verification.

Patiently, Bill told me that was just the way things had always been done. To question either the landowner or the storekeeper, was certain to result in their refusal to provide for us for the coming year. We went home, but I never let up. I seethed and boiled over the "settling up" situation. I complained and whined about it, until Bill finally began to see things my way. Then one day, about two weeks later, he told the landowner we would not be staying there and that he would be paid off in monthly payments, over the coming year, for we were going to Florida to live.Then he and my sister's husband left and hitchhiked to Orlando, Florida, because they had heard you could work down there and get paid by the hour and be paid EVERY FRIDAY! That sounded like a total and unbelievable miracle.

But they both got a job in the orange groves near Orlando as laborers, and eventually rented two little houses in the woods and a couple of months later, they showed up in an old Pontiac and it took 4 trips from Opp, Alabama to Orlando, but we moved, lock stock and barrel. That was the end of the share-cropping business for us and eventually it totally disappeared and died a long, slow, agonizing and well-deserved death. But the landowners fought it all the way because they didn't want to lose a good thing. Three of my sisters and a brother stayed in the Opp, Alabama area and lived there, but the rest of us never moved back. However, I just moved back to Opp to live permanently, but I am now retired and do not have to worry about money any longer. But, Thank God, that sharecroppers life is finally and permanently dead, for me, anyway.

IN 1830 SOME BEDSOLES MOVED FROM NC TO ALABAMA, TENNESSEE AND GEORGIA.

Several children of Thomas Bedsole, Sr. and Rebecca Jones, moved from North Carolina. These included; Travis Bedsole and his whole family from Beaverdam, NC to Haywood County, Tennessee. William Henry Bedsole, III’s son Amos moved his whole family from North Carolina to Warren County, Georgia with Thomas Jr's son Sessoms and family, while Thomas Bedsole, Jr., and wife Charlotte Ann (English) , with all their children, spouses and grandchildren, together with the William Davis family, Thomas Wise family and the Thomas English family moved from Bladen County, North Carolina to Crenshaw and Lowndes Counties in Alabama, with Thomas Jr. and wife and William Davis and wife, at some point, moving to Ino, Alabama, east of Opp, Alabama, in Coffee County, at a later date. This move was lock, stock and barrel for all concerned and was made by mule-drawn wagons. Possibly as many as one hundred people and ten to twelve wagons were involved. When they arrived in Alabama, with the exception of Henry Bedsole, they apparently worked the first year before acquiring government land there, in the form of “patents”.

Henry, a son of Thomas Jr. and Charlotte, appears to have wasted no time in acquiring such land and it appears that he and his brother Sessoms, had made earlier, initial “Scouting” trips to Alabama and back to NC the year prior to this larger movement of people. This was probably done to determine the type of land available, cost, location, housing and locations of any towns and army forts, and best routes, before moving the families and so many people at one time.

Henry Bedsole, acquired many tracts of land in several counties in Alabama, Louisiana and Florida, while the other Bedsoles initially settled primarily in Alabama, (unless otherwise noted below) on acquired land as follows. These land acquisitions were probably NOT the only ones made and others were probably purchased and acquired by deed, but these are the only ones available on the Alabama Land Patent internet site, at this time:

Name County Year

David Bedsole Baldwin (Mobile)....................1895 Thomas Jr's son
Duncan Bedsole New Orleans, Louisiana.... 1902
Edward Bedsole Walton ( Mossy Head), Florida 1859 270 Acres.
Edward Bedsole Coffee (Opp).........................1891
Edward O. Bedsole Clarke (Grove Hill).........1891 Edward's son.
Edward Bedsole Crenshaw ............................1840
Edward Bedsole Clarke .................................1890
Henry Bedsole Lowndes ...............................1833 Thomas Jr.'s son
Henry Bedsole Crenshaw (Luverne) 1833 The first in Alabama.
Henry Bedsole Crenshaw................................ 1834
Henry Bedsole Crenshaw................................ 1896
Henry Bedsole Crenshaw................................ 1837
Henry Bedsole Crenshaw................................ 1837
Henry Bedsole Crenshaw ................................1837
Henry Bedsole Crenshaw................................ 1837
Henry Bedsole Crenshaw................................ 1837
Henry Bedsole Crenshaw................................ 1837
Henry Bedsole Crenshaw ................................1837
Henry Bedsole Crenshaw ................................1852
Henry Bedsole Crenshaw ............................... 1852
Henry Bedsole Montgomery ............................1837
Henry Bedsole Montgomery ............................1837
Henry Bedsole Rapides Parish, Louisiana ..... 1907
Henry Bedsole Leon County, Florida ............. . 1902
Henry Bedsole Leon County, Florida ............. . 1903
John B. Bedsole Geneva (Samson)................. 1904
John D. Bedsole Geneva (Samson)................. 1899
John W. Bedsole Geneva .................................1895 Son of John B
Quincy F. Bedsole Clarke (Grove Hill) ..............1891
Rayford H. Bedsole Clarke ................................ 1860
Sarah E. F. Bedsole Covington (Andalusia)........1900
Sessoms Bedsole Montgomery (Sellers).............1837
Sessoms Bedsole Montgomery ..........................1837
Thomas Bedsole Crenshaw (Luverne) .............. .1834
Thomas Bedsole Houston (Dothan).....................1858
Thomas Bedsole Houston .................................. 1858
Thomas Bedsole Coffee (Opp).............................1841
Thomas Bedsole Coffee ......................................1849
Thomas Bedsole Coffee ......................................1859
Thomas H. Bedsole Clarke (Grove Hill)................1875
Thomas Bedsole Dale (Ozark) .............................1837
Travis Bedsole Coffee...........................................1893
Travis Bedsole Coffee...........................................1860
Travis Bedsole Coffee ..........................................1858
Travis F. Bedsole Rapides Parish, Louisiana........1905
William B. Bedsole Geneva (Samson)...................1898
William F. Bedsole Clarke ....................................1891
William H. Bedsole Coffee....................................1891

EDWARD BEDSOLE'S STORY

Edward, a brother of Henry above, was also born to Thomas Bedsole, Jr. and Charlotte English in 1819 in Beaverdam, NC. He died in 1909 and is buried in Clarke County, Alabama. You can see above, that others also moved to or were born in, Clarke County. He was about fourteen years old when they moved to Alabama. He was married to Susan Blackwell and they lived in Crenshaw County, Alabama initially, but he moved his family to Mossy Head, Florida at some point. About 1890, they moved to Grove Hill, Alabama where he, his son Quincy and Edwards sister Elizabeth’s son Rayford, built a log store at the crossroads in Grove Hill, Alabama. Over the next couple of years, they developed a group of drinkers, smokers, snuff users, tobacco chewers, never-do-wells, hangers-on and trouble-makers, who frequently gathered at the store and discussed politics and how they were all being wronged by the local politicians. Eventually, Edward and Rayford began selling moonshine whiskey from the store and the gang which gathered there from time to time now numbered perhaps 50-60 men. Over time, they turned to steal from politicians and that practice grew until their victims included their own neighbors, who were just poor, ordinary farmers.

The local sheriff was always “too busy”, or “out of town”, to do any law enforcement of this gang and shortly, (after all, the sheriff lived among them) they began taking whatever they wanted from whoever had it. If the victim objected, he was shot for his trouble.

Finaly, five good men from the area sent a telegram to the Governor of Alabama, explaining the situation to him and asking him to send army troops to arrest the gang. Instead, the Governor, not being the brightest bulb in town, telegraphed the Sheriff and the sheriff replied he had everything under control and downplayed the problem to the Governor.

When they saw the Governor was not going to do anything, the same five men went to adjoining counties and rounded up a group of 300 men, each one armed with the new Winchester repeating rifles. These 300 men converged on Edwards house. They found Quincy there and killed him and a few others and ran the rest of Edwards gang out of the county. Ironically, although he was the ringleader, Edward was also a Mason and several of the three hundred men in the gang were also Masons and Edward was allowed to go because of that, provided he left the county and never returned. Edward stayed away for about twelve years, but moved back to Grove Hill where he lived to the ripe old age of ninety-three. Proving the adage that the meaner you are, the longer you live. Edward died in 1909.

This story can be found more or less in its entirety in a booklet entitled “The Mitchum War Of Clarke County, Alabama”, obtainable from The Clarke County Democrat (Newspaper), P.O. Box 39, Grove Hill, Alabama 36451.

I recently read in the newspaper that a writer, perhaps unrelated to the Bedsoles had rewritten the Edward Bedsole story, in a much more comprehensive manner, perhaps flowering it up quite a bit and that it was becoming a best seller. In addition, a movie based on the story and that book is being contemplated. The name of the new book is “Hell At The Breech”, which was actually what Edward named his gang at Grove Hill. .

Larkin Bedsoles Fight For Food

This story shows how desperately people lived back then. Larkin Bedsole, b. 1826, a son of Duncan Bedsole (Thomas Sr. and Rebecca Jones’ son) and his wife, was a very poor farmer in North Carolina. After his first wife died, he married a woman named Atha Carter. At age 63, Larkin came home one day from his field work, to eat lunch only to find that Atha’s two grown sons had just finished off the last of the cornbread and grease. Enraged, Larkin attacked the two with his fists, but quickly realized he was in a losing battle and grabbed a long butchers knife from the kitchen counter.

The two other men did likewise and a knife fight was launched in the tiny kitchen with butcher's knives, but quickly spread to the back yard for lack of maneuvering room. In the backyard, near the woodpile, Atha grabbed an axe and planted it in the middle of Larkins head, from the back. A newspaper article on this incident related that “Old man Bedsole, was loaded onto a mule-drawn wagon and hauled to the hospital at Fayetteville, where doctors said he was not expected to live". However, it appears that he did indeed live another 20 years!! They called him “Old Man Bedsole” at age 63.

Bedsole Peculiarities

It has been a curious finding to me that there are certain ancestor/descendant Bedsole lines which have an inordinately high number of mean, vicious, drunks and trouble-makers in them and other lines which have a high number of lawyers and doctors and others which have a high number of carpenters, those with lots of mechanical skills and finally, those with high numbers of school teachers in them. I have found none, save for my youngest brother Cecil, his daughter and myself, who were educated in, and/or worked in, the field of Engineering.

A despicable peculiarity I have also noted is that there are a few lines which contain Bedsole men who were excessively mean, brutal, hateful and cruel to their wives and children. One of these illustrious people, I am ashamed to say, appears to have been my own Grandpa. To those few, I claim no kin whatsoever, notwithstanding the obvious.

The Bedsole Curse

But there is one thing I have found prevalent in all the Bedsole lines as far back as I could trace it and that is what I call “The Bedsole Curse”. If you are a Bedsole by birth, you have more than likely been eaten up by this curse and are well aware of it already. “Murphy’s Law” states; “If anything can go wrong, it will”. But in the Bedsole Curse, I found that “ If there are several things that can go wrong at the same time, and there always is if a Bedsole is involved, the one thing which will cause the most damage, cost the most money and hardship and which will have the most detrimental effect on the Bedsole, will always go wrong FIRST “.

SOME BEDSOLE MARRIAGES

NOTE: There are numerous Bedsoles marriages, births, deaths, and etc., in the counties and states which follow. I am including a few just to show you the County and State where they can be found, and to record such for future reference. It is very time consuming copying and posting them to this record, but the real problem is that I have no way of knowing how they all fit on the Bedsole List Of Ancestors And Descendants.

There are many Bedsoles in Texas, having spread there from Walnut Hill, Mississippi (From Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Jr. and from her brothers Edward, Henry, and others from Grove Hill, Alabama following the shootout in Grove Hill, by Edwards 50-man gang and surrounding counties men, making up a lynch mob.

Edwards gang lost the fight and many Bedsoles headed to Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. I did'nt find much on the Bedsoles in Texas prior to the 1900's, with the exception of numerous birth, death, marriage and divorce records, which don't contribute much to my mission, without knowing how they fit into the Bedsole Ancestors And Descendants List, in Section 2.

JACKSON COUNTY, FLORIDA

CRENSHAW COUNTY, ALA. MARRIAGES

DALE COUNTY, ALABAMA MARRIAGES

MOBILE, ALA. MARRIAGE

SHELBY COUNTY, TEXAS

Sampson County, NC Marriages

San Sabal County, Texas