The Making of Double Cousins

 

Martin Harmon Jones, Mattie Bell Bridges Jones, Hugh Springfield Bridges and Nancy Jane Jones Bridges. 

The lady on the right is Nancy Jane Jones Bridges -- Hugh's wife and Martin Harmon's sister.  Mattie Bell is Martin Harmon's wife and Hugh's sister.

Memories of Martin Harmon Jones Part 2

 Interview with Martin Frank Jones (my uncle)

12 Feb 2013

Recorded by Nancy Quillin Long

I went to visit with Martin and the following is from that visit.  See also the printed copy of Martin Frank’s blog.  Several years ago, Martin Frank wrote his memories down and now is placing them a little at a time on his blog. 

 Martin Harmon Jones never owned anything.  He grubbed out mesquite trees, chopped cotton, and was a day laborer for other farmers.   People thought a lot of him.  He was known as “Farmer Jones”.  He always lived on farms.  When the Depression hit, Martin Harmon lived in a 2-room house that Mimi and Pappy (Mimi is Ava Ella McNair Jones and Pappy is Joe Carroll Jones) had lived in there in Thalia, Texas, after they moved to their house on the hill.  Mimi and Pap's home on the hill burned down and then they rented a home from Allen Schulty back in town. When they were able, Mimi and Pappy bought the Stovall’s house (the house by the school) in Thalia.  When Martin Harmon developed bad heart problems, Pappy moved that little 2 room house onto their lot, very close, so that Mimi could care for them.  That is the house that Martin Harmon lived in when he died.  Later, Pappy had purchased a home in Crowell that he was letting Martin Frank/Vonne live in, and when Pappy retired from farming, Martin and Vonne bought a house by the school. Mimi and Pappy then moved to Crowell.  Once again, Pappy moved that little 2 room house to Crowell and place it on a lot just across a pasture for Mattie Bell to live in.  Pap added a room to it.  Pap then purchased the house right next door and Bill/Faye lived there until Bill got a job as a game warden in Canadian.  When Bill/Faye moved, Pap sold Mattie’s house and moved her in next door.  

Memories of Martin Harmon Jones

 Interview with Carolita Quillin Jones

March 1, 2003

Recorded by Nancy Quillin Long

Martin Harmon (Granddaddy Jones) was one of Carolita’s favorite people.  The Joneses were the salt of the earth, but were considered “hayseed” country people. 

Carolita remembers Martin Harmon being a well-framed, handsome man of medium height.  He was thin, but not poorly.  He was a very quiet, unassuming, gentle man.  He was kind and soft-spoken.   He was a spiritual man and didn’t make much ado about it.  He was honest, upstanding and hardworking.  Martin Harmon always wore suspenders and long sleeve shirts with kaki pants. He had false teeth but never wore them; he even ate without them.  He whittled and made the children whistles out of hollow willow stalks.

 Carolita’s first recollection of Martin Harmon was as a janitor at the Thalia schools.  Carolita would help him sometimes with his chores there.  She remembers him sprinkling the floor with “O’Cedar” and sweeping and cleaning the floors.  He would also attend the boilers and did most anything that needed to be done at the school.  Martin Harmon was responsible to ring the school bell in the morning for the start of the day, at noon, and again for school to let out. 

 Carolita was told that he was a day laborer, mostly clearing land or tending to other people’s land.  He was basically a sharecropper.  Martin Harmon never owned any land himself. 

 Granddaddy Jones did night watch at the cotton gin.  His assignment was to make sure that a fire was not ignited.  When the cotton bales came off the press, they would be so hot they could easily ignite.

 Martin Harmon fell into bad health with heart problems, yet he never complained.  Carolita remembers him being short winded and that his nose would bleed profusely. 

After he fell into ill health, Pap (Jo Carroll Jones, his son) moved Martin Harmon and Mattie Bell’s 2-room house onto his property in Thalia.  They placed the home at the back of the property.  Carolita remembers him sitting in his chair at the back of the house.  He would always lean the chair against the wall.

 Martin Harmon loved to help with the animals.  He would milk the cow, keep some of the milk for himself and bring the rest to Ava.  He tended the chickens for Ava, and he cared for their horse.

 They dug a cellar in the dirt, and Martin Harmon was the storm watcher.  They would gather everyone in the cellar and Martin Harmon would stand outside and watch the storm.  Carolita remembered getting to go out and watch with him.  She felt that she learned a lot about the weather from him. 

 Inside the dirt cellar, Martin Harmon dug a hole to keep his cash.  No one, save Eddie Hugh knew where the money was hidden.  Martin Harmon was saving this cash (not much more than $100) to pay an old grocery bill.  When he died, Eddie Hugh told the family about the money, and they all wanted to split the cash among themselves.  They eventually did split the money and it also split the family.  Jo Carroll was left to pay the grocery bill.  All the Jones family would have starved if it had not been for Joe Carroll who always had work and a little money and didn’t mind caring for his family.

Granddaddy (Martin Harmon) was crazy about Carolita’s son, Bryan, and Truman, her husband, loved to hang out with him.  Martin Harmon loved fishing and would fish with a cane pole.  Truman and Martin Harmon were great fishing buddies. 

 His death certificate says that Martin Harmon died quickly of a heart attack.

Martin Harmon Jones Family Group Sheet