My Grandpa, Samuel Rankin Richardson, fought in the Civil War in Company Number 9, Illinois Infantry. He and my Grandmother, Emily Pitcock, came to Montague County, Texas from Cook County, Illinois. They settled on a farm in southeast Montague County. Papa, Sylvester Sherman Richardson, also from Illinois, met and married Mama, Sarah Emmerline Rose who was from Booneville, Missouri in September 17, 1893.
Papa and Mama started their married life living on Samuel Richardson's home place. Their first four children, Mamie, Walter, Albert, and Oran were born there. Walter did not survive childhood. In 1905 they moved to Richland Springs in San Saba County, Texas. Some of Mama's family, at the Roses, lived there. Their next three children, Edgar, Cecil, and Jesse were born in Richland Springs. When I was two years old I walked up behind Oran while he was splitting wood with an ax. The blade hit me on the right cheek. Dr. Nelson had to put in stitches. The family farmed on the Rose's farm until 1914.
In 1915 the family moved back to Montague County. One of my cousins hit me with the same ax that Oran had hit me with. This time I walked up while he was chopping wood and got hit with the back of the ax above the right eye. Later that year, we moved 12 miles north of Nocona, Texas to a place called Roland. All that was there was a store and a cotton gin. We lived in my Uncle George's yard. He had a big cotton crop and we came to help him gather cotton. Papa built a large tent, about 14 by 20 feet, wood sides covered with a tarp on top. In December or January while we were living in the tent the ice froze on the ground and trees and stayed for two weeks.
In February of 1916 we moved down on the Red River to Dallas Lauderback's. Papa and the boys farmed for him while we lived there for one summer. Roy Fletcher, my youngest brother was born while we were living there.
Papa moved us to the Stewart place in 1917. The Stewarts lived one mile north of Zella Rose's house. We stayed there one year and farmed on the half. Papa and the boys made enough working there to buy a new wagon, a team of horses, and farm tools.
After working at Stewart's, we moved to Caddo's place in 1918. the Caddos owned six or eight farms and we farmed it for a third of the grain and a fourth of the cotton. We also grew sorghum cane. I have a picture of Wess Elliott on Albert's shoulders reaching up and he could barely touch the head of the cane. It was twelve feet tall. It was twelve feet tall. It was so long that when it was cut and put in wagons for hauling, it stuck out the end. Papa made sorghum syrup and shipped it in wooden barrels to Lubbock, Texas. It was very good syrup and brought a good price.
In 1919 I started to the first grade at the school in March, Texas. I walked three miles to school. Roy died when he was three years old in September of 1919. I think he choked while eating a bull nettle kernel.
In 1921 Papa moved us across the river to Oscar, Oklahoma. We lived one and a half miles east on Seay's (See's) place. The Seays owned several sections of cattle and farm land. They still own it. They had lots of cattle but no bulls. We farmed for one third and one forth of the crops because Papa had his own farm equipment. We lived on Seay's place for eight years bailing hay and farming. Oran started attending Decatur Baptist College in Decatur, Texas in 1924. One time Albert and I were taking Oran back to college. When we were six miles south of Ringgold, Texas the Model T broke down. We got the lug wrench and tire pump out of the car. Oran hitched a ride on to Decatur and Albert and I walked back to Ringgold and caught a ride home. A couple of days later we took a horse and wagon to get the car. It took all day to get there in the wagon. When we got there the car was gone, never to be seen again.
In 1928 I started to high school in Ryan. The family paid for me to stay with Roy Miller all week so I could attend school and go home on weekends. In 1929 a new school was built in Prairie Valley, east of Terrall. I started attending high school there so I could live at home. In December of 1929 Papa bought our home place near Mud Creek, south of Ringling, Oklahoma. There was a log house on the place where we lived until we built our own house. Co-incidentally this is the same log house where Opal Abshire was born in 1920. Albert furnished the money to build the first house which had four rooms. He was working in the oil fields at the time.
There was a big ice and snow storm in 1930, the year we built the first house. I had to walk two miles to catch the bus to go to school. Sometimes the bus didn't come at all so I quit for the year. I worked the farm for two years. The first thing a large orchard of fruit trees. It was while we were clearing the land for the orchard that I first saw Opal. She lived a quarter of a mile east of our home place and she would walk across the field south of the home place to visit her kin, the Evans'. She would be whistling and singing. We paid for the farm raising turkeys and hogs. We milked cows and sold the cream and raised chickens and sold the eggs in town on Saturdays to buy groceries. Turkeys are so dumb that when it rained they would huddle up and trample each other if you didn't get them in out of the rain. Papa first got sick with his prostrate about this time.
In the summer of 1932 while Oran was attending Sam Houston State College in Texas he grafted pecan trees on the home place. He later received a degree in agriculture.
I went back to high school in Ringling and graduated in 1934 when I was 21 years old. Papa passed away in 1935 after having trouble with his prostate since 1931.
I started dating Opal about this time. The first thing that happened was at a dance Opal's cousin dared her to ask me for my high school ring. She asked and I let her wear it. We all went to the dances together because everyone would hop on to the wagon of whoever was going that way. We also all went to Brush Arbor meeting together. We go married on September 25, 1937 in Ringling at the First Baptist Church. We lived with my family on the home place, Joe Dean was born in Ringling at a friend's house. Edna Willoughby, "Mo", my Grandmother-in-law, and Flora Evans, Opal's Mother was there.
In 1939 there was a fire at the home place. It was totally destroyed. Only a few pieces of furniture were saved. Ona Marie Richardson, daughter of Edgar, was born in the old house shortly before it burned. We started rebuilding right away. The Roses and Uncle Greenberry came to help us build the new house.
We needed to move out of my family's house but had nowhere to live. Joe Smith said he had a house on his place that we could live in. This was south of Herman and Lucille Brockreider on South Mud Creek. We were living there in 1941 when Opal was due to give birth. It had rained heavily and the doctor could not get to our house because the roads were flooded. I put Opal and Joe Dean in our wagon and headed for Mama's house on the other side of Mud Creek. The creek was so high that when we started across the wagon started floating. I thought we were goners. We made it, though, and James Lowell was born in the new house at my old home place.
The house we were living in on Joe Smith's place caught fire at four A. M. on morning in 1942. We woke and half the the house was on fire. We got out with a mattress, a few clothes, and a '32 Chevrolet that we had worked picking up pecans to buy. Everything else was destroyed.
In 1943 we moved west of the home place to a two room house on Mud Creek that you could see through the walls. That summer, Shorty and Margie Snyder, friends that had moved to Fort Worth, came to visit. The told me that Consolidated was hiring everyone they could get. We loaded the '32 Chevy and headed to Texas.
