His Blog - His Words
GRANDAD’S LIFE PART 3 Posted on October 3, 2012 by Martin Jones
FOURTH & FIFTH
GENERATIONS OF MARTIN JONES
Martin Harmon
Jones, my grandfather, fourth generation, was born April 12, 1874. I refer to
him as the fourth generation with reservations. I have never found any evidence
that there was a Martin Jones ahead of the one’s that I have named. He married
Mattie Bell Bridges, born May 5, 1878. They lived for some time around the area
of Denton, Texas which is just south of the Red River from Oklahoma. They had
four boys and one girl. The boys were: William Albert, Joe Carroll, Hugh
Springfield, and George Truitt. The girl’s name was Lucy Catherine It is
interesting to note that my grandfather did not name any of his sons Martin. I
know that this had not happened since the early 1800’s. I know that my father
was born somewhere around Denton. So it is fair to assume that William Albert
was also born there. I am not sure about Hugh, George, and Lucy. I do know that
Lucy was not much older than me.
My grandfather
always seemed old to me. I am sure that I seem old to my grandkids also. When
we were kids 40 seemed old. I don’t ever remember my grandfather having teeth.
He had the toughest gums I ever saw. My grandmother did have some store-bought
teeth. I do remember one time later in granddaddy’s life, he got some what he
called store bought teeth, but he hated them and never wore them. He was the
hardest working man I ever knew. I have no idea how much schooling he had, but
he had a little, because I know that he was not illiterate. He probably got
what schooling he had back where he was born. His nick name was “Farmer Jones”.
In his younger days, he was a sharecropper. Always working someone else’s land.
Most of the farms were north of Thalia in what we called the sandy land. South
of Thalia, a little ways east, and west all the way to Crowell, was what we
called tight land. It was covered with mesquite. Most of it in the early 1900’s
probably sold for around two dollars per acre. I say all this to illustrate the
environment that my grandfather came into.
The Thalia
community, when I came along, was really quite a bustling little town. I
remember it that way. There were three thriving churches. There was a nice
school. I remember that at one time there were three grocery stores. There were
three gas stations. There was 2 barber shops. (no beauty shops in those days).
There was a dry goods store, a large mechanics garage, a lumber yard, and two
cotton gins, and more. When highway 70 became paved, Thalia really began to
thrive.
But my grandfather never took
advantage of the thriving economy. He kept sharecropping. He worked himself to
death working for $1.00 a day grubbing out the mesquite trees on land that
enterprising men were buying for $2.00 per acre. I know this because my dad
talked about his frustration over why his father never took any chances and was
content working like he did. My dad bought a two-room house in Thalia that our
family lived in for several years. After we moved out, Granddaddy and
Grandmother lived in it. This is about the period of time that I really begin
to remember my grandparents. By this time Granddaddy got a job as janitor at
the school. The school was about two hundred yards from his house. I remember
helping him after school sweep and clean up the school. It was not a daily
thing, but I liked to do it occasionally.
