2023 Comes To A Close

 

Martin Harmon & Mattie Bell Jones 50th Wedding Anniversary

 

They were married 28 June 1896 at the Bridges' home in Orangeville, Fannin County, Texas.This was just across the county line from Whitewright, Grayson County, Texas. This news article was most likely from the Vernon Daily Record. I found this in my mother's (Carolita Quillin) family heritage album. 

History of Martin Harmon Jones

Remembrances of Martin Harmon Jones by his grandchildren  

 Martin Harmon Jones

Background History

 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 very kind and soft-spoken.   He was a spiritual man and didn’t make much adieu 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. During the Depression, the Jones family would have practically starved if it had not been for Joe Carroll Jones.

 

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 is remembered by his grandson.
February 12, 2013         Interview with my uncle, Martin Frank Jones
I went to visit with Martin.  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, he lived in a 2 room house that Mimi and Pappy had lived in.  They moved to their house on the hill.   When that home burned, Mimi and Pap rented from Allen Schulty, and then bought the Stovall’s house (the house by the school).  When Martin Harmon developed bad heart problems, Pappy moved the 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.  Pappy had purchased a home in Crowell that he was letting Martin/Vonne live in, and when he retired from farming, Martin and Vonne bought a house by the school and Mimi and Pap moved to Crowell.  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 also 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. 

 

Mattie Bell Bridges Jones 1955

 Pictured below is my great-grandmother Mattie Bell (Bridges) Jones. This was taken the year before I was born. The family was gathered at Mimi & Pappy's house (Ava & J.C. Jones) house in Thalia, Texas. 

Mattie is supervising my cousin, Bill Lynch, Jr, as he opens a gift...a new pair of cowboy boots.

History of Mattie Bell Bridges Jones

 

Interview with Carolita Jones Quillin

March 1, 2003

Done by Nancy Quillin Long

 

 
Background History
Mattie Bell Bridges Jones

 

Mattie Bell was a short, pudgy lady with a round belly.  She wore her hair pulled back into a bun.  Mattie had lots of vanity and was meticulous in her dress.  She liked new things. 

 

Mattie was a sickly woman, but she did not look sickly.  Carolita always thought her to be a hypochondriac.  Mattie would take to the bed for weeks having others care for her.  She was very demanding of others, and Carolita remembers Granddaddy getting off the tractor to come in to give her her pills.  Carolita remembers all of Mattie’s children being called to her bedside, thinking that she was dying.  The grandchildren were made to stand outside, and they could hear her carrying on.  

 

Martin Harmon would do lots of the cooking and household chores and Mattie would pack her bags and leave for 2-3 weeks at a time to go visit her sisters.

 

Mattie Bell was very demanding of Ava as well.  For most of Ava and Jo Carroll’s married life, Mattie and Martin Harmon lived in their back door.  Ava would take care of them daily.

 

Mattie Bell was highly thought of and very religious (not spiritual).  She would always be with her church friends and most of them were gossips.  She was a “loper.”  Carolita remembers her getting up very early, putting on her bonnet, and making the neighborhood rounds.  She would then come in through the back door of Carolita’s house croaking, “Lazy, lazy, lazy,” if no one was up yet.  Mattie Bell would always say, “I just don’t know what to think of these young people.  They’re just going to the dogs.”  She tended to hoard things and would dole it out later.  For example, if she had fresh fruit, she would finally offer it to the grandchildren when it was nearly ruined.

Mattie Bell Jones Death Certificate

 Daughter Lucy Day gave the name of Mattie's father incorrectly. 

It should be William L Bridges. 

1880 Census Mattie Bell Bridges

 My great-grandmother, Mattie Bell Bridges Jones, is found living with her father and mother in Dalton, Whitfield, Georgia, line 14. Her father was William Bridges. Her mother was Hattie Springfield.