Easier Way To Make A Living

There was a guy who lived in Cedar Key.  Everybody poked fun at him and they all said he wasn't quite right.  But Chuck liked him and always got along just fine with him.  His name was Charles Rogers. 

Please, please do not confuse him with Mr. Charlie Rogers, who was the Pastor of the Methodist Church for many years.   They are two entirely different men with the same name.

One night Chuck and some of his friends were out boogalooing.  They happened to bump into Charles downtown somewhere.  Chuck’s friend Wilbur (Chuck always called him Red) Allen, and Charles, disliked each other considerably.  They started making snide remarks to each other, and that led to a scuffle. 

Chuck got between them trying to break it up. The next thing he knew Wilbur said “Damn Charles, you cut me.”  Chuck looked around, and sure enough Charles had reached around Chuck and had cut Wilbur’s belly open.  Charles always carried a knife and he kept it razor sharp.  He had been known to use if before.

The fight stopped immediately.  Wilbur grabbed his stomach trying to hold it together and keep his guts from falling out and said again, “Damnit Charles, you cut me!” 

Charles said, “Wilbur I tried to git you to leave me alone and you wouldn't, you a lot bigger’n me and I had to stop you the only way I know how to.”  They loaded Wilbur into a car and took him to a hospital and got him sewed up.  He carried that scar the rest of his life.

A Bird's Eye View Of Cedar Key

The time Chuck spent in Cedar Key before joining the Navy was always treasured by him; those were some of the happiest and most care-free days of his life.

On the last ice fishing trip with his Uncle’s, they were fishing up on the western shore, up toward the mouth of the Suwannee River.  They had the hold about half full and a nor'easter hit. It pushed all the tide out and left them hard aground on a sandbank.

And there they were stuck, till three or four days later when the tide came in enough they were afloat again and could get out of that area.  During the time they were stuck there, Chuck said, “It was as cold as a well digger’s a** in the Klondike, and I decided there ought to be an easier way to make a living.”

Photo Courtesy of Carmen Day Williams
 this is the back corner of the Fish House

After they came in and settled up at the fish house, and Chuck settled all of his open accounts with those he owed money to, he went and found Wilbur (Red) and Jake Campbell.

They took off up to Gainesville, got rip roaring drunk, and joined the Navy. Jake was the designated driver and he stayed sober. By the time they made it to the Recruiting Office they were almost falling down drunk and Jake was sober, but when he got nervous he stuttered; the Recruiting Officer wouldn't let Jake join because he thought Jake was drunk.

Of course Chuck and Wilbur thought this was just hilarious!  And they teased Jake about it, here he was the only one sober and they could barely stand up.

This  story concludes the stories of Chuck’s fishing and turtling days in Cedar Key before he joined the United States Navy and spent the next twenty + years sailing the seven seas in a submarine.

Mami T-- Part 14

She was never intimidated by those who were of a different station in life. She always spoke her mind in every situation she was faced with. She was comfortable in her own skin, and knew who she was.

This is something many of us are just beginning to understand about ourselves after years of living and some never do realize who they really are or what their purpose in life is.

Daddy said, "In her later years she wore glasses. She would sometimes walk around in the house moving stuff and muttering." Someone would ask her what she was looking for. And she would answer; "I can’t find my pipe nur my glasses." And they would tell her, "Mami T your glasses are on top of your head and your pipe is in your mouth.?

She died April 17, 1917 at the age of 87 years. I never knew where she had been buried till a few years ago when I had gone up to Holmes County to the funeral service of a close family member. If I had ever heard, I did not remember, and I am sure I would have remembered anything that concerned her!

After the service we drove to a few other cemeteries visiting ancestor’s graves and recalling memories of them. We stopped by the Union Hill Cemetery to visit Uncle John and Uncle Sam McDuffie’s graves. Afterwards I was walking around reading other headstone inscriptions and I stumbled upon her grave-site.

Mami T

I cannot even begin to convey to you how elated I was to find her final resting place; this awesome woman, my gg grandmother who had always been my hero! Her son Tony is buried between her and Caroline, my g grandmother.

William H (Tony) McDuffie

Her story did not end when they laid her body to rest in Union Hill Cemetery in this small piece of earth and placed a headstone on her grave, nor does her story end here. 

Caroline

You might never see her name in a history book, but her story will live on through the pages of time, and she will be remembered by me and my descendants.

I have written her story for them so that they will know about their ancestor. I wish I could tell you so much more about her. But there are still many blank spaces. I wish I had a picture of her to share, but I don’t. I have only the one I carry in my mind, which I formed in my imagination, that comes from daddy’s description of her.

I wish that I could tell many more stories of the things that she said and did, but I can’t they would be made up. I think that I have shared enough so that you can know her too.

She was one of life’s greatest characters!

She had no formal education, but tremendous wisdom! She was a great teacher because she had a good understanding of life and she taught by example of telling, showing and doing. And it was learned by all who knew her except her only son.

She had great courage, and grit, she was never intimidated and spoke her mind freely. She was fiercely loyal to her family, and the glue that held them together.

She was so many things to so many people for so many years. She cast a giant shadow that spanned several generations in a very positive way; by just being herself.  Are you beginning to understand why I think of her as my hero?

It is my hope that I have been able to convey to the reader, the greatness of this tiny Florida pioneer woman who could not read or write; who left her mark X on paper to be witnessed others; who could read and write.

But this was not the only mark she made; she made her mark in the lives of her children, her grandchildren, her great grandchildren, her great, great grandchildren, and the lives of future generations.

She certainly made her mark in my heart! Her genes still flow strong in the bloodline of this family. We bear witness of her life and we rise up, and call her; blessed!

Mami T-- Part 13

At some point in time she purchased more land and Tony purchased some too. I do not know how much acreage was involved, but it was down near the Choctawhatchee River.

She moved to the Whitewater Community, and of course Tony always lived with her. She taught her son and all of her grandsons how to run a farm; although Tony was not around to be of much help to her.

According to daddy Tony eventually gambled away all of the land they had owned except for the small piece they lived on in the Whitewater Community.

As her grandsons grew up they were a lot of help and they were all very good farmers as she had taught them to be. In later years some of them turned to other occupations.

Her knowledge was passed on to her great grandsons who were farmers too, her love and knowledge of working the soil was passed down through several generations.

I certainly love digging in the dirt, planting the seed and watching it grow to harvest or bloom, and my greatest love of gardening is the propagation of the plants.

One of my sisters; who is also her gg granddaughter, Bettie, is a Landscape Gardener, and so is one of my nieces’ Shellie who is a ggg granddaughter of Mami T.  One of her ggg grandson’s Tim McDuffie majored in Agriculture at the University of Florida.

This next story happened after she moved to the Whitewater Community, and I am not sure of the year. She was called to testify to an incident she had been an eye witness to, and it had happened in the Whitewater Community, this is the reason I am fairly sure she was living here at the time.

I do remember seeing this home place when I was a little girl, some of the family still lived here long after she had died. This house is no longer standing now, and neither is the one near Miller’s Crossroads.

She was called to the witness stand on the morning the trial began; to testify as to what she had seen and heard concerning the case. She was sworn in and testified, and excused from the witness box, but was subject for recall later.

After the lunch break she was recalled to the stand. The prosecutor was a man by the name of Emmitt Mathis if I’m not mistaken. He said to her, “Now Aunt T didn't I understand you to say, and then spoke whatever it was he thought she had said"?

She was sitting in the witness stand with her right leg crossed over her left knee. She leaned forward and placed her right elbow on her knee with her right hand underneath her chin.

She looked him dead in the eye and answered, “Hell no, Emmitt Mathis you didn't understand me to say no sich a damned thing!” The judge spoke very quickly and sharply to her and said, “Now Aunt T you watch your mouth or I’ll have to hold you in contempt of court!”

She leaned back and gave him a dark look also and replied, “Contempt ah court be damned, he ain't gonna make me out no liar, him nur no other sonamabitch; he knows what I said, and I ain’t gonna repeat it neither!”

The man was found ‘Not Guilty’ because of her testimony.

Mami T-- Part 12

According to daddy, Tony was much too busy gadding about playing the dandy and high roller to be much help to his women folk at home. I know very little about my g grandmother Caroline, but it was said by those who did know her that she had a very sweet and precious nature.

It must have been her true nature; to have had a husband like Tony McDuffie, and still have a sweet precious nature. I think she should have been nominated for sainthood, and I would love to have known her!

After Caroline died in 1908 Tony married again, he married Mary Ellen Woodall or Woodell September 15, 1918, and they were married under the names of W. H. McDuffie and M. E. Faircloth.

When she died she was buried in the Mount Olive Cemetery under the name of M.E. Faircloth. After she died there was talk in the family that Tony was accused of murder. It is quite possible that he was accused, but as of this present date no official record has been found to verify this.

However there is a file in State Criminal Record’s where assault with intent to commit rape was filed in 1916 against him. Who filed those charges I do not know, and neither do I know the out come of the process. The notes were in the files shared with me.

This man was quite a rascal, the anguish and heartache that he caused to others; there is no excuse! First to his mother; the extra burden he put upon her, and next his wife and children.

Caroline knew of his escapades with other women, it was common knowledge and he was very vocal about it, how it must have hurt her! Her entire married life with this man was lived with this kind of behavior from him.

And lastly his children, it is sad but true they are always the ones that are hurt the most. They survived in spite of his shenanigans, and I believe they survived because Mami T was the matriarch of the family; she was the glue that held them together!

I believe the love Charity had for William was a deep love. She was 31 years old when he died or disappeared and she never remarried. I like to think it was the love of her husband and family that kept her going so strongly, day in and day out, never breaking under the heavy load of responsibility that she carried on her shoulders daily!

Love is the greatest force in the universe! Love is what will hold us to the grindstone of life, and love brings us through it! Even her name ~ Charity means love!

Mami T-- Part 11

Another little story told to me by a cousin, Rex McDonald who was Aunt Ludie’s youngest son. Aunt Ludie was Mami T’s youngest granddaughter.

She had an old yard dog that she loved dearly. One morning a neighbor from up the road a ways came riding by on his horse, he was on his way into the settlement. She was in the barn and he did not see her, but she saw him. He threw a biscuit into the yard and rode on by. She walked over and picked up the biscuit before the dog got it, and put it in her apron pocket.

A Rocking Chair

She finished her chores in the barn and walked into the house. She got her trusty old shot gun and filled her pipe, she went out to the front porch, and sat down in her rocking chair. She rocked and smoked her pipe and waited! She didn't want to miss him as he would be passing by again on his way home.

He had been complaining that her dog had killed some of his sheep; she had told him this was not true, and that her dog did not leave her yard, and had never bothered her sheep. But he insisted he was right. She figured he had put poison in the biscuit to kill her dog.

When he approached on his way back home she yelled to him, “Hold up there, I want to talk to ye!” He stopped and waited till she walked out to the fence. She handed him the biscuit and at gun point said, “Now ye eat it”, and at gun point he did!

Whether the biscuit had poison on it we will never know, and I don’t know the final outcome of the story. But I do know he did not bother her with complaints about her old dog anymore. I would love to have been a fly on the fence post to have seen and heard this story unfold!

I don’t have any idea about what happened to Rody and Emily. Records are skimpy about them, the last mention that I find is in the 1870 census, and in this census Mami T is listed as a farmer on the line for occupation.

There is however a lot of mention of my g granddaddy William H. (Tony or Tang) McDuffie. According to my daddy he loved women, licker and gambling, and did almost nothing else except satisfy his passions.

He was reported to have been a very handsome man. And he was a real braggart about his conquests, my mother heard him brag once that he had bedded over 200 women.

This is not a lot by today’s comparisons, but this was in a sparsely settled area, and the mode of transportation was on foot or horseback, or mules and wagon. We will never know if this was the truth or not because he was also a great liar, according to the family, he told big whoppers! He was born April 30, 1857, and died October 06, 1936.

He married Mary Caroline McCroan, his first wife in 1881. Caroline was born August 16, 1861 and she died April 18, 1908. And she is my great grandmother. During her lifetime she bore him nine children and their names are as follows:

# 1 Mary Magdalene McDuffie, born November 24, 1883 died in 1944

# 2 Henry McDuffie, born July 25, 1885 died August 05, 1885

# 3 William Benjamin McDuffie, born March 06, 1886 died June 13, 1971

# 4 James (Boss) McDuffie, born January 09, 1889 died September 17, 1963 1962

# 5 John Daniel McDuffie, born May 07, 1890 died August 14, 1944

# 6 Edward Lee McDuffie, born February 27, 1894 died January 28, 1977

# 7 Julia Ludie McDuffie, born March 27, 1896 died July 09, 1981

# 9 Joseph Harvey (Harve) McDuffie, born September 01, 1899 died June 18, 1977

# 9 Samuel H. (Sam) McDuffie, born December 02, 1901 died October 20, 1958

These are Mami T’s grandchildren that we know about. If there are others they are unknown to our family. Mami T helped Caroline raise them until Caroline died, and then she had sole care of them.

Mami T-- Part 10

Daddy always told us this next story with great pride and tremendous admiration; for her courage! And sometimes he laughed such deep belly laughs; and it would take two or three tries before he got the story told.

An Oil Lamp

One moonlight night she had just blown out the lamp and crawled into bed. She heard the sound of a wagon coming down the wagon trail that passed by her house. Mules pulling a wagon make a lot of noise while it is moving and there is no mistaking the sound.

Her house and barn was not out by the wagon trail, but was set back in a bit. As she listened she heard the wagon stop, and then she realized it was backing into her place. She figured they were headed to the barn to steal something.

Very quickly she arose and grabbed her double-barrel shot gun. She slipped out to the barn and inside without them seeing her, she hid in the dark and was in position when they stopped completely.

A Double Barrel Shotgun

They had backed the wagon into the barn and stopped in front of the corn crib. There were two men in the wagon, and she recognized one of the men. As he swung his leg over one side to step down out of the wagon, she stepped out of the dark and into the moonlight streaming into the barn; so that they could see that she had a gun pointed at them.

She called the man by name and said, “Ye sorry sonamabitch if ye step down off that wagon it’ll be the last damn step ye’ll ever take in this world, cause I’m gonna blow ye to hell, now ye git outta here, and don’t ye come back if ye want to stay alive!”

They were happy to oblige her, and they got out of there as quickly as they could, and they never came back! I am very sure the word was passed around that she was a woman to be reckoned with if you tried to steal from her.

A wagon load of corn back in those days compared to today’s monetary value would be worth enough that this amount now would probably be considered grand larceny.

But even more than the money it would have been worth; it was a life-line to her till next year’s crop came in; it was food for her and her children, and food for the livestock. And it was also the seed for next year’s crop.

She had great courage, true grit, and backbone! She was a strong woman, a fierce protector of what belonged to her! The stories daddy told us about her made such an impact on my life, and I felt my life would not be complete if I didn’t at least attempt to tell her story. My descendents will have the story of her life as best I know it!

Mami T-- Part 9

Women in those days did not wear pants or shorts; they wore long dresses with large bib aprons. When she arrived at the creek she would take off her apron and turn it around and tie the sash in front, and then bend over and reach through her legs and grasp the tail of the apron and bring it through and up and tucked it into the sash tied at her waist. Instant shorts!

Daddy told us that she was very frugal and hated to waste anything, especially time. As she walked along on her journey to and from the settlement she would usually knit.

A Spinning Wheel

She raised sheep on her farm as well as chickens, hogs, and milk cows.  And she had the mules for plowing the field. She saved the wool needed for her family when the sheep were sheared; then she sold the rest. She had a spinning wheel for spinning her own yarn.

In addition to farming she still had to cook the meals which were cooked on a wood burning stove or fireplace. She also had to do laundry by hand, harvest and prepare, can and preserve the food. She made her own lye soap which was the cleaning product of that time, and it was usually made from left over grease and lye or pot ash made from ashes.

I don’t remember the recipe or the process, but I know my Mother made it every so often in the old cast iron wash-pot when I was a little girl. And I would imagine that Mami T made it much in the same way.

There were cows to milk, chickens and livestock to feed, gather the eggs, chop the wood and bring it in, this was a chore she did herself till Tony was big enough to wield an axe.

And when the weather got cold the hogs were butchered, and the meat had to be processed and hung in the smokehouse to be cured.  The work was a never ending process, day in and day out, every day, and it was year after year.

I am quite sure she arranged her work schedule according to the seasons and the weather at the time. I know from daddies stories that when she plowed in the field she had to harness the mules, and she took the children to the field with her.

Emily was placed on a quilt pallet nearby and William H. (Tony) watched and tended her while Mami T plowed and Rody walked behind her and dropped the seeds as she plowed the rows. The others helped as soon as they were big enough to help.

A Woman Plowing

A Sun Bonnet

In my mind’s eye I can see her plowing in the fields, dressed in the long dress and a bib apron, and she is wearing a sun bonnet and brogans. Most southern women who worked in the fields with their husband’s; and most did; also made these bonnets to wear; to shade their eyes, and protect their hair and skin, especially the skin on the back of their necks; from becoming sun-burned.

Brogan

For those of you who might not know what brogans are; they are high-top shoes made of good leather, which lace up with either leather or string or possibly twine. They are heavy-duty shoes that wear like iron. There was no such thing as sneakers in those days!