Heritage Part 3

This week I wanted to add the next entries in the cemetery book that are my direct line ancestors, my 2nd great grandparents, James William and Clara Inda EVANS ACORD.

On page 22 under Evans Cemetery

ACORD, Clara I.                                                                           18 Aug 1882      02 April 1949

Peggy Harmon Stepp furnished the following: "Clara India "Indie" Evans was born Aug 18, 1882 about 2 miles south of Spoke Plant, AR near the Little Mulberry River. Indie's parents were Josiah and Jane Conner Evans.

Indie first married [John] Ginger Holland who operated a ferry crossing the Arkansas River. They were married only a few months. There were no children born in this marriage. Later Indie married James William "Jim" Acord. They were the parents of 6 children. Jim died when the oldest child was 12 years old. Indie managed to raise the children on her own. Indie and her oldest child, Zula worked for neighbors to earn a little money. They raised most of their food and gathered many wild greens and herbs. They grew cane to make molasses. They put up kraut and molasses in 60 gallon barrels. Indie's nephew, Ode Eldridge would come in the fall with his family to help cut the wood for winter.

Indie was a midwife, taught by her mother who was half Indian. She would travel many miles thru all kinds of weather to deliver a baby.

Later in her life she moved in with her son John and his family. their house was on the same home place property. When Indie got sick she went to her daughters at Fayetteville where she died April 2, 1949"

THE MADISON COUNTY RECORD, Huntsville, Arkansas, Thursday, 7 April 1949

"Mrs. Clara India Acord, 66, of Little Mulberry, died April 2 at 4 p.m. at the home of a nephew in Fayetteville. The widow of the late Jim Acord, she had been ill for about eight years.

Survivors are two sons, John of Spoke Plant and Joe of Pettigrew; two daughteres, Mrs. Zula Stepp of Spoke Plant and Mrs. Equilla Carr of Fatetteville; 19 grandchildren and a brother, Jody Evans of Fayetteville.

Funeral Services were held Monday, April 4 at 2 p.m. at the Evans cemetery conducted by the Rev. Albert Hoskins. Arrangements were under the direction of the Nelson-Savage Funeral Home.

Directly following this entry, on page 23

ACORD, James W.                                                                       18 July 1881     28 Jul 1915

Peggy Harmon Stepp wrote the following: "James William Acord was born July 18, 1881 to John Turner and Sarah Zulema Kosier Acord.

James "Jim" married Clara India "Indie" Evans.

Jim and Indie lived in the Acord Hollow the first few years of their marriage.  Later they moved, about 1906 to the Evans place on Little Mulberry. 

Jim and Indie were the parents of  Zula Jane, Lou Annie, Minie, John Thomas, Joshua "Joe" Charles and Effie Equilla Acord.

Jim was a farmer and timber worker.

Jim was a strong man. One Sunday afternoon there were several young men over visiting. They were lifting. Jim felt something pull in his stomach. A few days later Jim died at the age of 34."

Jim Acord and Clara India Evans were the parents of:

1. Zula Jane married Newell McKinley Stepp, Sr.; both buried in Evans Cemetery.
2. Louanna buried in Evans Cemetery.
3. Minnie Myrtle married Roy Betnar; both buried in the Evans Cemetery. 
4. John Thomas married Elzada Griffith; both buried in the Oark Cemetery. 
5. Joe S. married Wilma Vae Combs; both buried in the Yale Cemetery.
6. Effie Equilla married #1 Hoyt Karr and #2 Omer Clark 

 

 

 Jim & Indie Acord with their girls: Zula (standing), Minnie (in Jim's lap) and baby Lou Annie (in Indie's lap). Lou Annie died not long after this was taken. This picture has been mistakenly labeled and shared many other places as John Turner and Sarah Zulema Acord with children. This picture was hanging in Effie's (Aunt Dood) and was given to Connie Betnar (Minnie Myrtle's son) and now belongs to his daughter Ann.

 

 

 

 

Heritage Part 2

Yesterday I wrote about a cemetery book my grandmother gave me. In that post I also transcribed the entry for my great grandmother, Zula Jane ACORD STEPP. Today I will transcribe the next entry in the book, her husband, my great grandfather, Newell McKinley STEPP:

        STEPP, Newell M., Sr.                24 April 1896   03 Oct 1987

Roma Lynn Jackson Stepp, Newell's daughter-in-law, wrote the following:

"Newell was born April 24, 1896 to James Jonathan & Rebecca (Merle) Stepp near Fallsville, AR.

He was the neighborhood blacksmith until he was elderly. He also was a farmer. He never bought any tools or machinery parts if e could make what he needed & most of the time he could. He knew how to graft trees, slip ginseng. He lived in the most inventive of all times. He lived through the horse & buggy days, men walking on the moon to the computer age. He was in WWI. The war ended while he was on a ship going to France. 

Newell's brother Bill, married him to Zula Acord on April 1, 1923 at Spoke Plant, AR. They had 7 kids. 6 lived to be grown & 1 died at 2 weeks old.

Newell was usually a quiet, nice man. He liked to farm, putter around with his blacksmithing & to read. He was a good neighbor.

He died in Oct 1987 from a blood-clot resulting from falling backward off his porch."

Peggy Harmon Stepp, Newell's daughter-in-law submitted the following information:

"Newell McKinley Stepp was born April 24, 1896 in the Clifty Hollow area in Madison County, AR. He was second born of 15 children to James Johnathan and Rebecca Matilda Merrill Stepp.

Newell grew up helping his dad and brothers working in the timber. They hauled cross ties and stave bolts to the railroad yards at Pettigrew. 

Newell started school at Mullins Chapel, later finishing his education at Spoke Plant school. 

Newell was in the Army during WWI in France.

After returning from the Army, Newell married Zula Jane Acord. He bought a farm at Spoke Plant. Newell and Zula raised all their children at Spoke Plant.

Newell was a farmer, still continuing over the years to work in the timber and was known as a good blacksmith. People came from miles around to have him work on their wagon wheels or whatever could be fixed in a blacksmith shop. Newell was an honest hard working man. He always told his children "Take care of your pennies and your dollars will take care of themselves." They had a happy family life, working hard on the farm. They enjoyed social gatherings, visiting with neighbors. Good neighbors were very important to this generation and the Newell Stepp family were good neighbors. As Newell got older he took great pride in his gardening. He enjoyed growing a big field of corn and garden to share with family and friends. He continued to grow a garden until he was in his late 80's.

Newell and Zula were married 64 years. They continued to live at Spoke Plant until Newell died at age 91."

THE GRAPHIC, Clarksville, Arkansas, Wednesday 7 October 1987

"Newell Mckinley Stepp, aged 91, of Pettigrew died Oct. 3, 1987 at the Johnson County Regional Hospital.

He was a retired farmer, World War I Army Veteran and a member of the Pentecostal Church.

Survivors include his widow, Mrs. Zula Jane Stepp; three sons, Artist Stepp and Newell Stepp, Jr., both of Pettigrew and Dwight Stepp of Oark; three daughters Merle Denzer of Gentry, Argie Jayne Benson of Prairie Grove; one brother, Jubal Stepp of Pettigrew; four sisters, Cora Clark of Wheeler, Stella Barber of Charter Oak, Mo., Alda Mullins of Pettigrew and Odessa Stepp of Fort Worth, Texas; 19 grandchildren; and 20 great-grandchildren.

Graveside funeral services and burial were at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 6, at Evans Cemetery near Yale with Rev. Bill Gregory officiating. Arrangements were under the direction of Roller-Cox Funeral Home.

Active pallbearers were Tony Benson; Tim Denzer, Greg Stepp, James Stepp, Danny Stepp and Steve Moore.

Honorary pallbearers were Connie Betnar, Clyde Betnar, Dr. Don Pennington, Steve Trosper, Michael Konnard, Clifton Hill, Keith Stepp, David Stepp, Ron Denzer, Clyde Benson and Kenneth Stepp." 

 *This left out my grandmother Reba Melson of Prairie Grove.

I wanted to share a picture (again) of a hammer, Newell made and the story that goes with it.

My Great Aunt Peggy shared an heirloom she and my Uncle Dwight have. Dwight's dad, my great grandfather, Newell Stepp Sr. was a machinist in the Army in WW1. He made 5 ball-peen hammers while he was in the Army. He gave one to his commanding officer and brought the others home. A few years ago Dwight was visiting his cousin, Edna McDonald and she had one of the hammers that Newell made and gave to her Mother. She said she wanted Dwight to have the hammer, which he is very proud of. We don't know where the other 3 hammers are. They have Newell's serial number stamped on them, unfortunately its too faded to make out.

Grandpa Newell, hunting ginseng.

Newell and Zula in their garden.

Until next time,
Becky

The Great Listen -- Test

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving Day at my husband's parents' house and then with my mom on the following Saturday. While at my mom's house I sat down to interview her parents using an app on my phone called StoryCorp.   This app is very user friendly. You can use your own questions, or there is a multitude of questions they have for you to choose from. If you choose their questions they will pop up on your screen with a little check mark in the bottom corner for you to tap after that question has been answered. Then the next question will show up -- like digital index cards. Your interview can be as long as 45 minutes and I have found the audio to be pretty good quality. Once your interview is complete and you have given it a title, summary, and chosen a few tags/keywords/labels you can then choose to download it to your device or upload it to the StoryCorp website. Once it is uploaded to the website there is an option to share it and there is even an embed code to add to your own personal website or blog, which is something I am very excited about.

Whether or not genealogy is your thing, I encourage you to take the time to sit down and listen to your family members. Have your children interview you. Interview your children. Are you going on a long road trip? Pass the time interviewing one another.


I plan on adding a transcription as I get time. To listen to the interview from the StoryCorp website click here.



Until next time,
Becky

The Chillicothe Constitution 15 May 1936 Newspapers.com

Transcription:


Interviewer: This is Becky Drake and I am interviewing my Grandma and Grandpa Melson, Thanksgiving 2017 (Sat 11/25/2017). We are in Siloam Springs, Arkansas



Becky Drake: Ok. Grandpa, what was Thanksgiving like when you were growing up? And where did you celebrate it?


Leroy Melson: Always at my mom's house. Always good. Seems like we always had company.


Becky: So cousins came over?


Leroy: Her sister, Aunt Bea. You probably know about her


Becky: Yeah


Leroy: They were always there. Especially during the war, they was around us all the time, while Dennis was in the war.


Becky: Yeah


Leroy: We always had it together most of the time. They lived about half a mile up the road... quarter mile... half a mile... quarter and a half mile up the road (laughs).


Becky: Was this in Oark?


Leory: Eh, out on the mountain there, South of Oark.


Becky: Okay. Did Grandpa's family ever come or just Grandma's family? Did Grandpa's brothers or sister ever come?


Leroy: Yeah, Tobe and Annie, his brother and his wife, come once, once for sure, pretty regular, I can't remember how many times but they was there.


Becky: What kind of food did she cook? What kind of food did your mom cook, for Thanksgiving?


Leroy: Uhh, we had a pecan pie always.


Becky: Always had a pecan pie.


Leroy: Because we had a pecan tree out in the yard.


Becky: Oh really? Neat!


Leroy: I would gather them up, crack them, and she'd make 'em. She made them pretty..every little bit ... every time I wanted one all I had to do was crack out a couple of nuts and she's make me one.


Becky: Wow, that's great. What about you, Grandma, what was the first Thanksgiving you remember?


Reba: Really I can't remember any when I was at home that they was anything different than just a regular day. I don't think that we made a big thing out of Thanksgiving.


Leroy: After we got married I spent Thanksgiving at her house. They celebrated Thanksgiving (referencing the fact that they were married the day before Thanksgiving 1955).


Reba: Yeah sometimes


Leroy: Her mother (surely bound to before ?)


Becky: Your sister said you guys didn't celebrate birthdays much either, so you just didn't many holidays at all?


Reba: No


Becky: Huh, was that just your family or just that area or...?


Reba: None of my family did ya know momma's brothers or sisters and them, it just wasn't any different than any other day.


Leroy: I remember we always had pork of some kind Momma always butchered a hog right before Thanksgiving.


Becky: Yeah, I had read somewhere where a lot of people butchered their hogs right around Thanksgiving.


Reba: But after we got married, we celebrated it. And we would go over to Momma's and Daddy's a lot of times at Thanksgiving after we got married.


Leroy: And deer hunted.


Reba: Yeah


Leroy: That was when we lived in Tulsa


Becky: When you lived in Tulsa you'd go back and deer hunt?


Leroy: Yeah, during that Thanksgiving season. Three days. Got three days deer season.


Becky: What do you remember most about your mom, Grandma Bondell? What do you remember most about her?


Leroy: Ah, she worked all the time. SHe was busy all the time. And she'd always... I remember when I used to smoke... and hiding out smoking and she'd give me, she got to where she'd give me quarter so I could buy a pack of cigarettes.


Becky: Really? She would pay so you could have cigarettes? Wow.


Leroy: Cigarettes was 21 cents, 22 cents, and they'd have 3 pennies down the side of the package.


Becky: Really?
Leroy: Yeah. And uh, the machines, put a quarter in the machine and you get a pack of cigarrettes with 3 or 4 pennies in it up the side.

Birthdays and Admiration

 

 

This week the writing prompt was to write about the person in your tree that comes the closest to your own birthday (not the year - but month/day). I have two people in my tree whose birthdays are the exact same day as mine. One was my 4th great grand aunt, born in 1857, the other is my grandmother's older sister who was born 56 years before me. I'm going to choose her. I loved this prompt because it gave me an excuse to reach out to some distant relatives that I'm 'friends' with on Facebook, but I don't interact with them any where else. I started out by sending them messages asking about their favorite stories about our ancestor. To some she is a sister, others a mother, some grandmother and others still an aunt. I found myself asking questions about so much more. I am honored to share a birthday with such a remarkable person from such a hard working generation.

Merle Iris Stepp was born on April 30th and was the eldest of 7 children born to Newell McKinnley
and Zula Jane (Acord) Stepp. She was named after Newell's mother Rebecca Matilda Merrel, and was delivered at home by Zula's mother, Inda Acord. The house she was born in was built by her father in the middle of the Arkansas Ozark Mountains in a little community known as Spokeplant, in Madison County. He had bought an old house about a 1/4 of a mile above the post office in Spokeplant. He tore it down and moved it and rebuild it at what is now known as the Bob Eaton place. Newell and Zula lived there for 16 years and 5 of their 7 children were born there. Then they moved about a mile down the road to what is known as the Karr* place where the two younger boys, Dwight and Tooter, were born.  The two homes Merle grew up in didn't have electricity. So she grew up watching her mother cook on the old wood cook stove and eventually learned how to herself. And laundry was another thing all together! When laundry was done in those days, it went a little something like this:

Build a fire in the backyard to heat the kettle of rain water.  Set tubs so smoke won't blow in eyes if wind is pert.  Shave one whole cake of lye soap in boiling water.Sort things, making three piles: 1 pile white, 1 pile colors, 1 pile work britches and rags. To make starch, stir flour in cool water till smooth, then thin down with boiling water, take white things, rub dirty spots on wash board, scrub hard, and boil, then rub colors... don't boil, just rinse and starch.  Take things out of kettle with broom stick handle, then rinse and starch. Hang old rags on fece. Spread tea towels on grass. Pour rinse water in flower bed. Scrub porch with hot soapy water. Turn tubs upside down. Go put on a clean dress, and smooth hair with hair combs. (Taken from an article written by Lisa Kelly and published in the Benton County Daily Record).

One story that my grandmother recalls that includes Merle and laundry was the time their mother, Zula Jane, and the two oldest girls, Merle and Argie  were doing the wash and a coal popped out of the fire and into the Sunday clothes. It ended up burning holes in some of them. Grandma remarked that they didn't have very many Sunday clothes.

There was a lot of hard work that had to be done back then just to survive, and children were expected to do their part. There were only a couple years difference between Merle and two of her younger siblings that were twins, Art and Argie. So the three of them worked together to take care of the farm. They would mend fences, repair the barn,  feed and water the livestock (cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, horses and goats). They would also pick beans to sell to the canning factory. Times were lean back then and they only had shoes in the winter. This meant they did all this farm work with bare feet during the warmer months.

My grandmother, Reba, said that because her sister was so much older than her, nearly 15 years to be exact, she didn't have too many memories of her at home. My grandmother would've been six when Merle got married. She did however, remember a time they were in the back of the hay wagon and Merle was standing up when the horses decided to bolt! Merle fell backwards and out of the wagon, but thank goodness she wasn't hurt. She also remembered another time when she and her older sisters, Merle and Argie Jayne, were in the barn milking. This was during WWII and they heard an approaching airplane. When they ran out to see it, it was a P38 flying so low that they could see the top and could hear their mother crying out that she was afraid those poor soldier boys were going to die. She was certain the plane was about to crash. Then suddenly the plane gained height and flew off. Remember the family homestead was located in the hills of the Arkansas Ozark Mountains and as the crow flies they were only a short distance from Fort Chaffee, where Elvis's sideburns were shaved off and he was given his famous GI haircut. Imagine if Elvis was in that P38!!

Speaking of WWII, Merle's soon to be beau, Willard Roy Denzer, who had lived just a mile or so away "over on the creek", was serving in the US Navy. When he came home on leave he and Merle began courting. They had met each other a few times before when the Denzer's would host a barn dance and the Stepp's would attend. They soon became engaged and after two years when Willard was out of the navy, on October 18th 1945, they were married at the Clarksville courthouse with Merle's mother, and her sister, Argie Jayne as witnesses. The happy couple lived with their parents for a month after they were married.

Before joining the navy, Willard had lived in California with an older brother, for a short time. While there he had a job working at The BOX Company. When he joined the navy he was told they would hold his job for him and he could have it back when he returned from war. This meant the newly married couple would move west to begin their new life together in sunny California. They did not own a car of their own so they hitched a ride with Willard's older brother Sherman and his wife Elsie. They lived in California for seven years with three of their five children born there, Richard, Ronald, and Rhonda.

In 1949, a mother's worst nightmare would happen - young Richard, only two years old, would suddenly experience bleeding of the brain and passed away. And three years later, Willard and Merle finding themselves homesick made the difficult decision to leave California where their baby was buried and move back home to Arkansas. They missed both of their families and the summers in Brawley were far too hot, so they headed back to Arkansas where their two younger children, Janice and Timothy would be born. The family lived and worked on a Tyson owned farm in Springdale. Willard worked hard for Tyson and became a research farm manager, and Merle cleaned eggs. Later when the Holiday Inn in Springdale was first built she went to work there helping get it in order. After they opened for business she was made head house keeper. She worked there for eleven years.

Merle grew up during The Great Depression, you learned the hard way that you do not waste anything and Merle took this with her into adult hood. One niece recalled that while Merle was working at the Holiday Inn, she would take the used bars of little soaps from work back home to her mother, Zula Jane, and they would grind it up in the sausage grinder and use the granules for washing their laundry.

Merle and Willard were from a hard working generation. They always had a garden and Merle would put up fruit and vegetables to last throughout the year. They raised their family and became grandparents and great-grandparents and eventually moved from their home in Springdale and purchased a lovely home on the lake in Gentry, Arkansas, where they retired.

This is where a defining memory of Merle and her generation would take place, at that lake house in Gentry, Arkansas, one frigid, icy, winter.

Her grandson writes: 

Merle's generation is the Greatest Generation for good reason. The resolve to do what needs to be done has carried through even into her golden years. A few years back, a winter storm struck the area, taking out power and icing everyone in for days. While the news ran stories about the elderly not having enough blankets, Merle and Willard (in their 80's) were chopping holes in the frozen lake, hauling buckets of water up the hill to the house, boiling it on their woodstove and using it for cooking, drinking, and bathing. 

Another time on a random visit we found the house empty. We heard a tractor running in the woods. We went to go check it out. We found Merle working a manual winch, chain, and come-along to right the overturned tractor in the ravine while Willard pushed. And they did it. In their EIGHTIES.

 

Last year Merle's family honored her with a 90th birthday celebration. I regret that I did not attend and that I don't have more first hand knowledge of this diligent and resourceful woman. I know she is a treasure to her family and everyone who knows her. I wish her many more birthdays to come.

Until next week,
Becky

*The Karr place was originally owned by  George Karr, the uncle of Zula Jane's brother-in-law, Hoyt Karr.  Hoyt Karr was married to Effie Equilla Acord, Zula Jane's sister.

**Caption for the family photo: Newell holding baby Reba, and Zula holding on to little Connie Betnar. Then the older three children left to right are Merle, Art, and Argie Jayne.

Please also take the time to read up on my SIL's Almost Birthday - Twin.

{ I later asked of any birthday memories she had from her childhood. This was her reply via her daughter Janice - "Mom said that she doesn't remember getting any gifts. They didn't celebrate birthdays, it was just like any other day. The meals were just like any other day also. Mom said that once in a while that her mom would make a molasses cake. That would be a special treat. They didn't have very much sugar then. It was hard to get. The molasses cake wasn't made for birthdays, just when she could make them. I ask her did anyone wish her a Happy birthday in school. She said no, they never had school in April. She said they only had three or four and never over six months of school. They would only go ever how long the money would last for their district. So never in school in April. They walked a mile to school and a mile back everyday day. Always barefoot unless it was winter. She said her and her sister Argie Jane, would have to wear a clean dress to school on Monday and wear it again on Tuesday and Wednesday, then they got to wear another clean one on Thursday and wear it again on Friday and the next Monday. They would have to change out of them as soon as they got home."}