HOW FAR COULD YOU GO: 1847 - 1899

They were called Clemie and France.  They were born in Arkansas in 1847.  They lived through the Civil War.  She was Margaret Clementine Brenson.  He was Francis Marion Easley.  He grew up with his Grand Parents on the west side of White River.  His Grandpa owned a general store and operated a ferry on the river.  She grew up with her parents on the east side of the river.

After the war they got married.  They were eighteen years old.    His Grandpa soon died.  I don't know about her family at that time.  It seems that she and he" soon left for Texas.  When Uncle Will, their first born, was a year old they left Texas for California.  There they took a train up the coast to the State of Washington.  They were in the same area that Aunt Pearl and Uncle Everett move from Grandpa's farm at the beginning of World War II.  There they saw a combine cutting wheat which was pulled by 64 horses.  For some reason they didn't like it out there.  So they came back to the area around Fort Worth, Texas.  Grandpa and a partner developed a trade route from there to El Paso.  Uncle Lawton has a tin type photograph of Grandpa and his partner on one of their trips.

It seems that he had a farm or an acreage where they raised their family.  Papa told me about living there.  They had a poor neighbor family living down the hill.  Easley's had extra milk from their cow or cows.  They offered buttermilk to that family.  He said the eleven year old daughter came with a two and a half gallon bucket to get the milk.  He remembered watching as she started down the hill toward home.  After a little distance she lifted the bucket and took a good long swig.  He thought that meant how hungry she must have been.

Grandma and Grandpa had six or seven sons and three daughters.  One little boy died, Walter must have been about two years old.  He was between Uncle Virgil and Papa.  I think most, if not all, their family was born there.  Grandpa hired a man to build a good fireplace in their house.  The man guaranteed it would have enough draft to pull a twenty penny nail out the top of the chimney.  He built it with mud mixed with sticks and straw.  After it was well dried, the great test came.  He stuck the nail through a sheet of paper, tossed it into the fireplace and those watching outside the house were totally amazed and pleased to see it come flying out the top. 

Now Grandma could cook inside during cold and rainy weather.  In 1885 Grandpa bought an iron cook stove, so Grandma didn't have to use the fireplace in winter.  In summer she had been cooking over a bonfire.  Papa told me they dried their meat by slicing it thin, then hanging it over a wire.  I asked about the flies?  He said they tied the wire above fly line.  I was so surprised I didn't think to ask, "how high is fly line?"

Finally in 1899, Grandpa and his sons traveled by horse and covered wagon (s) to Jackson County, Oklahoma Territory to purchase a claim an Old Man had staked in 1895.  After the transaction was made, they returned to Texas and brought the family and possessions to their last home, in 1900.