A Girl of the Limberlost

PARENTS, GRANDPARENTS, OUR FIRST FARM

My Johnson grandparents reared nine children. Andrew was the

oldest and was a half brother to the other eight. Joe was

Grandma's first born, second was my father, William Franklin.

All but one of them lived and thrived and raised children.

That's why I have dozens of cousins.

When my father was born, the family lived in Bosque County, Texas, somewhere about Meridian. They were ranchers and owned a bunch of cattle. Some 20 years later we find the family in Concho County somewhere near Paint Rock or in between Paint Rock and where the little town of Melvin now stands.

At least two of the boys, Joe and Will, worked for the Melvin brothers on their ranch. I have heard Papa tell of breaking saddle horses for the brothers as well as trail driving near San Angelo.

In the meantime the weather turned dry, grass became scarce, and the Johnsons drove their cattle to Indian Territory, (Oklahoma) looking for grass in about the year of 1894—that is, all but Joe. He stayed with his job in Texas.

About a year after the family moved to Oklahoma, Will Johnson got a neighbor boy to go with him back to their place in Texas to bring another wagon load of household goods. They were gone about two weeks.

While the family was in Oklahoma, Will—who was about 20—taught school two terms at Nubbin Ridge, somewhere near Duncan. Simpson, being about 17 at the time, was not about to go to school to a teacher who was his older brother, so he saddled his horse and slipped away back to Melvin's ranch, to be with his brother Joe. He said he got tired of riding but not nearly as tired as his horse. The journey was about 300 miles. He was on the trail three days and nights and had to stop at times to let his horse rest. When he got to the ranch, Joe wrote to the family saying that Simpson was with him and for them not to worry. They had suspected where he had gone but were not sure.

My Gaddie grandparents reared five children, three boys and two girls. Emma, my mother, was next to the youngest. Hugh was her younger brother. When my mother was born the family lived in Larue County, Kentucky, near Hodgensville. Their farm joined the Lincoln farm. She and Abraham Lincoln drew water from the same well but not at the same time. The Lincoln family had moved away some years before the Gaddies moved there. The well was on the fence row between the two farms.

When Emma was four years old her family moved to Dallas County, Texas. Then they moved to Grayson County, where Emma started to school at age seven. When she was nine they moved back to their old home place in Kentucky. Again, when she was 13, they moved to Dallas County, and at age 16 the family moved to a farm some eight miles southeast of Duncan, Oklahoma.