Friday's Faces from the Past

Bessie Hicks (Robert Henry Hicks sister)

In August I had the pleasure to spend a little time with Margaret Edmonson. Margaret is the daughter of Bessie Kathrine Hicks and John Truman Andrew (Andrue) Williams. 

I will share with you some of the stories she told me. 

Margaret remembers that Bessie said that Larkin and Mary Jane (Bessie's parents) came from Arkansas to Georgia in a covered wagon. Bessie (b. 17 August 1906) said that sometimes when she would get tired of riding, that she would get down and walk beside the wagon. When they were kids, Bessie and her brother Clarence got in trouble for tying two cow's tails together. They thought they would do that to make it easier to "bring the cows home" but instead one cow went left and one went right and it didn't work out as planned.  

Bessie's first husband was a Mr. Reid. I do not have his first name. Margaret said that Mr. Reid was killed while he was hitch hiking on or in a railroad car. 

We don't know how or when. 

On October 5 1925 Bessie Reid and Truman Williams (b. 18 Jan 1900) were married at the courthouse in Dalton Georgia. They both worked in the mills. One Christmas after the mills had closed down, Bessie and Truman sold bootleg liquor. They dug a big flower bed and put the liquor in there and put the dirt and flowers on top. They also hit it in the door frames of the house. 

Selling it was the only way they could get any money.

Bessie and Truman had three children. 

Truman, Bessie, Margaret, Jeanette, & Ralph

Ruby Jeanette Williams born 28 February 1927

Margrett Louise Williams born 23 May 1928

(spelled Margrett in the family bible, but Margaret on photographs. I'll have to ask...) 

Ralph Stuart Williams 27 July 1930

Truman and Bessie have left an awesome bible full of  family information. 

I'll post detailed pictures in a later post. 

Truman died 7 April 1938. He had surgery on his neck, and unfortunately a blood clot traveled to his heart. He was 38 years old. 

click here to see his findagrave memorial

When J.T. Died (Margaret was 10yrs old), Bessie took her 3 kids Jeanette, Margaret, & Ralph and lived with several of her brothers on and off for a few years. They were at “Uncle John and Aunt Bea's” house then moved to “Uncle Henry and Vesta's house” they spent one school year there. 

At one time when they were living with Aunt Bea (Beatrice) and Uncle John, Margaret and the other kids were being loud. At that time her grandfather, Larkin (Robert Henry's dad) was staying there. He told the kids that they would have a contest, whoever could stay quiet the longest would win and get a prize. The prize was a box with five handles. Margaret "won". He told her to come over and slapped her on the face. He said that was the prize. Palm of hand = box and 5 fingers were the 5 handles. 

While they were staying at Uncle Johns' house, he wanted Bessie to give him her money to hold for her. She didn't want to and they had a big argument. Bessie gathered the kids and they started walking down the road even though it was almost night time. John's kid Grady, drove up and tried to get them to get in the car/truck and go back to the house. Bessie told the kids not to talk to him. They went into the woods so he couldn't follow in the truck. They went to a farm house. The farmer took them to town the next day to rent a house.  

Later Bessie and the kids would move in with Robert and Vesta for a school year. Vesta would make the kids hot chocolate in the mornings for breakfast before they got on a school bus to go to school. They would eat pinto beans and cornbread for dinner. Sometimes Vesta would open a can of tomatoes that she had canned earlier in the year. “Uncle Henry” would give the kids a quarter every Saturday for an allowance. They would walk to the corner store. Sometimes they would buy tobacco and hide it behind the barn. They would roll it and smoke it. They would get in trouble because Vesta could smell the odor of cigarettes. She would get on to them. When she turned her back the kids would go “yeah, yeah”. Vesta was hard of hearing, so she didn't know. 

Labeled: Vesta, Sally holding Jeanette, Beatrice, Willena, Ellazine, Willie Hicks

Bessie married for a third time to Robert Marion Moon on 27 April 1945 at the court house in Atlanta Georgia.  -Bessie's 3^rd husband said she died (19 September 1949) when she went to the woodpile for supplies for the stove and the woodpile fell on her. She was 43 years old. Though she had a third husband she was buried with her 2^nd husband John Truman Williams in the Trion Cemetery. 

click here to see Bessie's memorial on findagrave

I'm not entirely sure, but I think this is Mr. Moon's memorial. It looks like he may have had a 1st wife that died in 1930.