A visit with Larkin Hicks

I was able to visit  my Granddaddy's brother, Larkin last week. 

Larkin is the youngest of Robert and Vesta's children, and he is the only sibling living. 

This is Bob and Larkin

Larkin told me a little about his mother Vesta. He said that she went to the Assembly of God in Stockbridge Georgia. She walked there, back and forth and never missed a service. He bragged about her corn bread and green beans. He told me that the reason her corn bread was so good is that she used grease to flavor it and it was "so good!". 

Vesta and the kids would work in the fields gathering cotton. He said that when the kids were in the fields, some friends would walk by and say. "Do you want to go to the creek?" and the kids would throw down their tools before Vesta could protest, and they would go running to the "Short Bridge" creek to go swimming. 

Larkin, Bob "JR", Robert, Vesta

I asked Larkin about the famous myth about Great Granddaddy's hidden jar of money. Larkin told me a story about finding the jar and taking a $20.00 bill out of it. Larkin was working at the service station that is just down the street from the house in Stockbridge GA. He made $1.00 per day. He said that he would see a Mr. Miller ride a bicycle by there. The bicycle had a horn and lights and a basket. Larkin wanted the bicycle real bad. He cashed in his war bonds to buy the bicycle. Later, he and a friend named Luke went to the station to get their parents 6 bottles of coke. Luke was peddling and Larkin was on the handle bars holding the cokes. The bike hit a rut in the dirt road and they all went flying. The bike hit a sign post and the wheel was torn up. Since his bike was messed up, he needed money to fix it. Larkin was walking near the barn and tripped over a oven door laying underneath the mulch and leaves. He lifted up the door and found a mason jar and took a $20.00 out of it. He got in a lot of trouble, and the jar of money was hidden somewhere else on the property. 

Larkin married twice. First to "Emmie". They had 3 children; Sandra, Barry and Angela. 

Larkin, Emmie, Myrl, Ralph

Later he married Betty. He said Betty had a nick name of Ms. Perfect Lips. 

Betty and Larkin had one child, Robin. 

I asked Larkin how he met Betty. He said that he went with Bob to the grocery store, where Betty was working. Bob had to pay his weekly tab. Larkin decided to buy a coke. He said "Now this is a true story, I put the coke on the counter and she leaned over and grabbed my collar, pulled me to her and gave me a kiss on the lips. We were together ever since." 

He said that he felt that Betty's dad was more like a real dad to him than his own. Not because his dad was mean or anything, but that he just didn't show affection or love. Betty's dad was tight with his money, and he always felt real proud when Betty's dad would say "Come on Larkin, lets go get a coke." 

I looked at a lot of pictures with Larkin. He talked about how much he loved his brothers. He talked about getting a jukebox but that Ralph really wanted it, so he gave it to him. He has a fond memory of riding in his Dad's Model A truck with Flo and Marjorie with the top down and their hair blowing, "having a good time." He also said he would go to the sauna with Bob and Stanley and that he enjoyed that a lot.  

Genealogy Do-Over!

I am participating in the Great Genealogy Do-Over started by fellow blogger Thomas MacEntee. That means I am starting over from scratch! We are on week two. This week's goals are to conduct self interviews and family interviews. I have reached out to Larkin's daughter, to see if she can help me arrange a meeting with him to do an interview. Fingers crossed it will work out.

In the mean time, my projects are to gather the sources for my parents, and their parent's births, marriages, and deaths. Yes, I may "know" what the dates are. But, I need to back it up with proof. Tonight I worked on getting some of the marriage licenses out of hiding. I have pulled my paternal grandparent's certificate.

Marriage between Robert Stanley Hicks of Stockbridge Georgia and Miss Marjorie Roberts of Atlanta Georgia on the 31 day of January 1947. (I hope...it is hard to read, and I only have this scanned copy. I'll have to ask Aunt Linda if this is correct.) 

I also pulled my maternal grandparent's certificate; Harry Francis Goins and Carrie Inez Hinote (Willkes).  But, I realize now that although I have a copy. I do not have it scanned. That task will go on the "to do list".  That will be a future task as my scanner died a few months ago. 

Other tasks I want to complete this week are to re-do or at least re-visit the folders I have for my grandparents and see what is in them and sort-of organize it. I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. I am also going to pull the birth and death records I have for my grandparents. (And Chris's people too.) I am only going so far out as the grandparents until I get all the documents and cite the sources. Then I will go forward with the rest of the lines. 

Finally, one goal is to not stay up too late when I have to work the next morning. It is 10:45pm now, so I am off !

Pole Vaulting Grandaddy

Edit: another genealogist suggested that this is probably actually the "high jump" instead of pole vaulting.

I don't know anything about my Grandaddy playing sports. But, he clearly did. But when? Because I can faintly see a guy in a particular hat in the background, I think this may have been when he was in the Army, and the hat on that guy looks like the ones I see of uniformed men in other photographs I have. 

See the hats? Grandaddy, Robert Stanley Hicks is the guy in the middle, 4th from the left. 

I have this other photograph as well. Is this from the same time period? How would I find out?

What could the "L" stand for? 

It looks like they had a mascot, a black kitten. 

Edit: another genealogist suggests "The Lions" perhaps with a kitty mascot?

If you have information about Robert Stanley Hicks and when he played basketball or pole vaulting, please send me some information.

Wordless Wednesday

Marjorie 17yrs, Linda 6 weeks, Stanley 22

Wordless Wednesday

Another group of people who we don't know who they are. They may be Hicks' or Hunsucker s or maybe even Harris folks. Do you know who they are? The boy is probably younger than 14 since he is still wearing short pants. 

Wordless Wednesday

Anyone have any idea who these kids are?  They were with a bunch of "Hicks" and "Hunsucker" photos. They could even be "Harris" kids. 

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.