Roots and Blooms- Garrisons

Thursday, April 23, 2020

Index to blog posts on Lewis Elgin Garrison

The move to Garden City and my birth in 1951

The move from the city to the suburbs was a huge trend after the war. My Aunt and Uncle were living in Garden City, on Long Island. My parents also found a lot here, on the corner of Brixton Road and Merillon Avenue - the new address was 11 Merillon Avenue. It was a perfect location- a pretty corner quarter acre lot with nice trees just two blocks from the train station, where my father could catch the Long Island Railroad into work in the city. They had plans drawn up and the new house- a shingled cape cod- was built. At first everyone lived on the main floor- two bedrooms, a bath, a kitchen and a living room. There was room upstairs and downstairs for expansion later on.

Garden City was a beautiful town, very convenient to New York City which was just a short drive or train ride away. In the meantime, Garden City offered the best that suburban life had to offer- pretty homes on lovely tree lined streets, excellent schools, and a quaint business district. It was a pleasant, safe environment for raising children.

I was born on in June, 1951. My mother said I had a full head of black hair, and my doctor pronounced, "It's a papoose!"

I was baptized at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City. My godparents were my parents best friends; Rollie and Anita Bayless, and my aunt, Aletheia Garrison Hainfeld.

Baptismal Font in the Cathedral

I shared a nursery on the first floor of our home with my sister, Ellen.

I still have the candle holder on the dresser, and my sister still has this rocking chair. Notice the play telephones of the era!

Ellen and I posing on our parents' bed

The first rose in the garden my father was just starting...

First Christmas- December 1951

First Birthday

I was off to a great start!

After the War- The birth of Baby Boomers!

The 1940's brought new life to the families in New York.

Pauline and Gary had a daughter, Ellen, born in December 1946.

The two couples now began a new phase of their lives as parents.

Aletheia and Fred had two children; Linda born in May, 1844, and Jim born in October, 1945.The two couples now began a new phase of their lives as parents.

With peace came prosperity. These post war Christmas pictures show a change from the austerity of the war time Christmas tree!

Saturday, June 8, 2019

How to find the cemetery and farms in Aline - Aline-Star Cemetery, Aline, Alfalfa County, Oklahoma

The Aline-Star Cemetery is found east of Aline, Oklahoma on Oklahoma 8B, near the Eagle Chief Creek. between Cleo Springs to the South and Carmen to the North.

56452 OK-8B, Aline, OK 73716

GPS Coordinates: 36.5057983, -98.4353027

Family buried here include:

Lewis F Garrison 1846-1911
Nancy Jane Rodgers Garrison 1850-1921
James Wilburn Garrison 1872-1947
Mattie Womack Garrison 1881-1968

Grandma Garrison was a member of the Eastern Star Lodge- the female branch of the Masons.

The coordinates for the farms are:

Alfalfa County Farm

Longitude-98.4756945185222

Latitude36.4813043550098

Major County Farm

Longitude-98.3680715997906

Latitude36.4305393891221

Mattie's Blog

I don't have many of Grandma's writings, but when she wrote something down, she sure had something to say!

Here are two of my favorites:

The Way I try to live

"I try to treat others as I have them treat me I find that works out very well and I try to go to church each Sunday and Sunday School I find that I always get a lot of good out of this. I try to keep up with my house work as I find it easy this way to do a little each day and that keeps everything in fairly good shape and try and thank the Lord each day for my health as I have always had fairley good health and I am thankful for my children as they have been good to me in all ways and also thankful for in laws as they also been very nice to me in all ways. I try to look on the good side of life that keeps us feeling better.”

The second writing many of you have seen; a comparison Mattie wrote about her life at the turn of the century compared to the life of a modern woman of the 1950's. Her final message was:

"If people could just calm down now days and spend a little time together with their family we would no doubt have more happy homes..."

A Country Woman of 40 Years Ago

A Woman of 1952-1959

Mattie, her children, and her grandchildren in 1952

Bob, Louise, Stanley, Mattie, Janice, Elgin, Pauline, Fred, Aletheia,

Linda, Saundra, Jim, Ellen

1935- Uncle Edgar Womack

The Womack family had 9 children. However, only 2 were sons; Edgar, born two years after Mattie in 1883, and Holly born in 1891. Since the family business was ranching, this would have fallen heavily upon the sons. However when their father, James Cornelius Womack died in 1895, Holly was only 4 years old. The ranching chores fell heavily on the widow, Nancy Frances, her older daughters, and 11 year old Edgar. In the years to come, it would be Edgar who would keep the ranch running.

James Edgar Womack

In 1900, Edgar was 16 years old. He had finished school, and was working on the ranch. His older sister Mattie was still at home at 19, as were his four younger siblings. A 21 year old neighbor, William Martin, was living with them and helping with the work. Luckily there were many relatives on surrounding farms who no doubt helped these two young men manage in the early days after the death of Edgar's father.

Edgar married Mattie Gibson, neighbor and distant cousin. Mattie's mother, Caroline Womack, was the daughter of David Womack III and Jane Franklin, who had emigrated to Texas with the Franklin and Womack clan in the early 1850's. So Mattie Gibson's grandmother, Jane Franklin, and Edgar's grandmother, Rebecca Franklin, were sisters. My grandmother, Mattie Womack, would have surely attended this wedding, which would have brought many relatives from the surrounding area to celebrate.

By 1910 Edgar and Mattie had a 4 year old daughter, Margarette. Also living in the home was a 16 year old farm hand and 90 year old black "servant" named Fan. (One would guess at 90 that she was being cared for more so than being a "servant.") Edgar's mother, Nancy Francis Womack, had moved to Groveton , where she has a rooming house with her remaining children, 18 year old Holly and 16 year old Lillian.

In the 1920 census we see that Edgar and Mattie had three children; 13 year old Margarette, 7 year old Edwina and 2 year old James C.. Also living at the home was a farm hand, Edson Davison.

Edwina and Margarette

In 1930, Edgar and Mattie were living in a home in Lufkin, Angelina County, although he was still working the ranch. Edgar was 45, Mattie 44, Edwina 17 and James C. 12. Margarette was married to W.M. Bryce and was also living in Lufkin.

The Womack ranch was quite large; almost a thousand acres, and Edgar hired men to help work it. Nearby was a community founded by freed slaves after the war, who had named it Nigtown. Harry Lacy, a resident there, had worked for Edgar from time to time. However, another man named Boise Beasley, may have been an instigator in the trouble that unfolded in 1935.

It all started with a pig.

1910- Adventure on the Rails

Still, there also had to be a sense of adventure.

Train travel was a romance in and of itself. This song from 1908 was written about the Rock Island Rail Road.

The Great Rock Island Route 1882

by J. A. Roff

Have you ever heard it rumored,

As you journeyed to the West,

Of the many mighty railroads,

Which was greatest and the best?

The public long have said it,

And 'tis true, beyond a doubt,

That for safety, time and comfort

Take the "Great Rock Island Route".

Chorus --

Only listen to the jingle, and the rumble, and the roar,

As she dashes through woodland and skims along the shore!

See the mighty, rushing engine -- hear the merry bell ring out,

As they speed along in safety, on the "Great Rock Island Route"!

In her crowded palace coaches

All is happiness and joy,

From the father and the mother

To the little girl and boy;

And a sweet look of contentment

From every face shines out --

For the people all are happy

On the "Great Rock Island Route".

Chorus

Through darkest hour of midnight

Hear the rumble and the roar,

As she glides like bird of spring time

Past the humble cottage door;

On, on into the darkness,

With headlight streaming out

For the safety of the people

On the "Great Rock Island Route".

Chorus

Through prairies, rich and fertile

With cities covered o'er;

On, through broad hills and valleys,

to the great Missouri's shore.

Her name's in every household;

'Tis known the world throughout,

So procure at once your tickets

By the "Great Rock Island Route".

(The song was later adapted to a more popular version known as the "Wabash Cannonball" -see song links at the bottom)

Mattie no doubt had her hands full with two young children. This article, published in 1910, gives advice to young mothers traveling with children.

1910-Tips for Train Travel with Children

The train would carry them 500 miles. They would travel through Dallas, across the Texas border, and into vast praries- now ominously devoid of the millions of buffalo which had once roamed there. The railroads such as the one which carried them had also spelled the death of the buffalo, whose massive herds could take days to pass by, and who had been the life blood of the nomadic indian tribes who once roamed the plains. Things had changed. Now many of those tribes were relocated into sections of what had once been Indian Territory and was now the state of Oklahoma.

Buffalo in Oklahoma

In 1907, there were over 680,000 Indians living in Oklahoma; over 190,000 Chickasaw, 182,000 Choctaw, 145,000 Creek, 140,000 Cherokee, along with many other tribes- the Seminole, Osage, Ponca, Cheyenne and Arapaho, and Comanche and Apache. The maps below show their lands in 1900 before statehood.

Mattie would surely have been watching out her window as they passed through the lands of what she thought were her native Choctaw. (We recently found out via DNA that we have no Indian blood despite the family stories!)

But just as the buffalo had disappeared, so had much of the Indian ways of life. Many children were taken to missionary and government schools where they were taught Christianity and vocational skills to prepare them for life in a white man's world.

Wagons from an Indian school hauling wheat to market in Oklahoma

After they passed through Indian Territory they would have come to the new capitol of Oklahoma City.

The 1907 census showed 783,000 people living in Oklahoma outside of the Indian Territory. 28,000 lived in Garfield County, where Enid was located. Here they would switch trains.

The Garrisons had farms in Alfalfa County, population 16,000 and Major County, population 14,000. By comparison, in 2014, Alfalfa County had a population of 5,790 and Major County 7,750.

Alfalfa County had developed along the railroad lines. The Kansas City, Mexico, and Orient line ran northward and had stops at Cleo Springs, Aline, and Carmen. This was the route for U.S. Mail delivery. Towns with railroad stations had mail delivery six days a week. Post offices further from the train might only get mail twice a week.

Living near Cleo Springs, Mattie was going to be able to get regular letters from her family.

Mailstops on the rail line through Major and Alfalfa County Oklahoma

Boxcar Willie- Wabash Cannonball

Rock Island by Lennon and McCartney

Rock Island Line song by Donegan

http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1907pop_OK-IndianTerritory.pdf

http://www.okgenweb.org/~itgenweb/itprojects/postal-routes.htm

http://www.okgenweb.org/okprojects/maps-1915.html

Search This Blog