Mom’s Family

My Mom was born in 1912 and was the oldest of 7. She was about 16 when the last one was born. Her daddy took all the kids somewhere, and when they came back, the baby was there. Mama didn’t even know her mother was pregnant! Of course, you didn’t talk about those things back then.

My mom was Ruth, and there was James, Ida Louise, Sybil, Doris, Rosser and Thad. They were raised out in the country. One day a storm blew up and Mamaw only counted 6; Sybil was missing. Well, she’d fallen asleep in the cottonseed bin. When she woke up and came home, Mamaw just wore her out and told her never to go anywhere without telling her. So a little later there was a knock at the door, and Sybil said, ‘Mama, I’m going to the toilet!’ which was of course an outhouse back then.

One Sunday, Ida Louise was cooking dinner while everyone else was at church, because they were bringing home company. When they got home, every bowl in the house was filled with rice, because she’d cooked a cup for each person!

Another time Mamaw and Pappy had company for Sunday dinner, they were all at the table,seven kids too, and the company was commenting how good the cotton looked all chopped. Pappy said that all the kids had helped, then Sybil interrupted, “Daddy said I was his best hoer.”