One Manýs Walk Through Life: A Memoir of Humor, Romance, and Tragedy

One Man’s Walk through Life

A Memoir of Humor, Romance, and Tragedy

Fred Bull

iUniverse, Inc.

New York Lincoln Shanghai

One Man’s Walk through Life

A Memoir of Humor, Romance, and Tragedy

Copyright © 2007 by Fred Bull

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ISBN: 978-0-595-44091-7 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-0-595-68944-6 (cloth)

ISBN: 978-0-595-88415-5 (ebk)

Contents

Genealogy Section

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

About AD 1765 in the highlands of Scotland, an event happened that was to have a special meaning to me. There was a birth at Mr & Mrs Ramsey’s home, a son was born and they named him Josiah, this was a direct bearing on my life as this was my mother’s Great Great Great Grand father, Josiah grew up and married one Elizabeth Cowan/en and to this union was born twelve children. I am not certain that Josiah was born in the Highlands of Scotland, which in effect does not matter, rather that he was born is the main thing. Josiah was a miller and farmer by trade and own a large tract of land laying in the Mulberry Gap area (of what at the time was the upper eastern reaches of what was then Claiborne County) Tennessee but now is Hancock County.

Their Children in order: Elizabeth 1790-1860, Eleanor 1793—?, Mary Polly 1795–1885, Margret Peggy 1797-1878, Thomas 1799–1872, James 18031866, Phebe (who which my mother was named after) 1806-1867, Josiah Jr. 1808-1870, David 1810-1864, Sarah 1811–1854. Ruth 1813-1874, William 1817-1862, William was My great great granddad. He married Nancy Clouse in 1838 and they had ten children, as we are most interested in the link between my wife Anna Mae Collingsworth we will only list the child that was to become our mutual great grand dad. William 1840-1922, married one Cathern Hatfield and two he married Sarah Jane Davidson, Bill as he was known and Sarah Jane did have children but I will not list them here, Bill and Cathern had five Children three boys and two girls.

My grand Dad Hugh Henry Ramsey married first Garlena Hopkins, the daughter of Steve Hopkins and Elizabeth Ramsey, second Hugh married Laura Smith, Tip, Hugh’s brother married Mary Jane Smith a sister to Laura, Anna’s mother Rebecca was the daughter of Tip Ramsey and Mary Jane Smith. My mother was the daughter of Rev Hugh H Ramsey and Garlena Hopkins Ramsey, Our grand dad’s were the sons of William (Bill) and Cathern Hatfield Ramsey. Anna’s mother married Rufus Andy (Chuck) Collingsworth, And my mother Birdie Phebe Ramsey married George Washington (Joe) Bull, so you can see our great grand dad was the same man.

Information contained in this book came from the following sourse, US Bureau of Census, Census Of Tennessee, Mr Dillion Shockley Mr Doyle Shockley, Mr Roy Standifer, Mr Charlie Stapleton, Mrs Dennis Cox, Mrs Irma Kitts, Mrs Stella Mae Bundren, Mr J.B. Shockley, Dates will only be used when I am sure of them. I do not claim that every word written on the following pages is the absolute truth. Some of the periods were very painful memories of the suffering of people I love very dearly. I do claim and affirm these are my memories of thing and events that shaped my life and directed my path through it.

Genealogy Section

Fred Bull the 7th child of George Washington (Joe) and Birdie Phebe Ramsey Bull, married first Anna Mae Collingsworth the first child of Rufus Andy (Chuck) and Rebecca Cathern Ramsey Collingsworth on the second day of April 1949 at Tazewell TN, by the Rev Will Rose My dad came from a family of eight, His family, Dad William Henderson Bull, Mother Molly Jane Smith Meyers Bull. brothers Claude, Will, and Silas, Sisters Ellie Bull Hall, Jane Bull Barnes, Axie Bull Burke, and Emily Bull Seals. Both my grand parents on my mom’s side was dead before I was born.

I was born 24 June 1930 in an old log house on the Southeastern side of Powell Mountain in Claiborne County, Tennessee. one of twelve children of George and Birdie Bull. my brothers and sisters in order are Virch Bull born 25 Dec. 1918– D20 Dec 1998, M-1st Eula Gray Baker 2nd Juanita Franks, 3rd Geneva Haught, Glen C Bull B-22 Jan 1920 D-31 Oct. 2006 married Irene Johnson, Lillion M. Bull B-7 May 1922 D—22 Nov. 2006 married Edna Berry, Chester Evertte Bull B-22 Dec 1923 never married. Roy Bull B-21 Dec 1925, married 1 Annis Dykes 2,? Ada Mae Bull B-24 Dec 1927, married Fred Dykes brother to Annis, Fred Bull B-24 June 1930 married 1. Anna Mae Collingsworth, 2. Clara Ellen Cross Eichelberger (of OH). Alene Bull B-8 Aug 1932 D—9 April 1936 from pneumonia. J. C. Bull B-24 Dec 1933 (a ordained minister) married Cleo Barnard, Myrtle M Bull B-16 Nov1936. married Rev. Loy Pressnell, Joe Carl Bull B-22 Nov 1938 married Jewell Watson, Mary Ellen Bull, B-8 Dec 1940 married Clifford Greer Jr. A list of all the grand children of Joe and Birdie Bull can be found in the files of Fred Bull the author. Here my wife Anna Mae and her family will be listed in order, Rufus, Andy Collingsworth B-12 April 1902, D-5 Jul 1986 married Rebecca C Ramsey, B 8 Jun 1904. D-1 May 1959, their children, Anna Mae B-11 Oct 1931, D—20 Apr 1999, married Fred Bull, Mollie Jane B-3 Apr 1933, D-5 Aug 1934, Paul Thomas B-17 Dec 1936, married Edith McAfee, Hazel Gearldene B-7 Nov 1936, married Norman Cultice, of Ohio. John Henry B-24 Jun 1939, married Edith Inez Mullins, Edd B-8 Jan 1942 D-27 Feb 1994, married Marie Mullins sister to Inez John’s wife. William Tip B-8 April 1944, married Rosa Miracle, Mary Ruth, B-24 Aug 1946, married Charles Fultz. Patsy Jo B-21 Nov 1948, Married 1. Fay Widner, 2. John Holden, 3 & 4 Doug Arrington.

1

Claiborne County in upper Eastern Tennessee, Then and Now Some of my earliest memories of my childhood is of a house that is called a boxed house, where hewed logs are laid down on rocks or cement blocks and planks one inch thick was nailed to them on the bottom end and a two by four inch timber at the top, to form a wall plate to set the rafters on. Then there was three inch strip nailed on the outside of the planks to stop the cracks between the planks. The inside of the walls were pretty smooth, and the three inch strip would stop the air flow from outside. To further in insulate the walls you would make a mixture of wheat flour and water into a paste and put any kind of paper you happen to have handy inside the walls. Needless to say the flour past was an invite to all the mice in the vicinity to dinner. The house was built in an L shape and you had to go out onto a porch to get into the cooking and dinning area. So when the weather was real cold you was sure awake before you got to the table. Our house had a huge field stone fire place, which was the only source of heat we had for the cold winters. I remember you had to sit pretty close to the fire place, then you would roast on one side and freeze on the other. The love and happiness in our house over shadowed the hardship we had to face. We lived on Skagge’s ridge which butted into Powell Mountain, and it was about a mile from the main road which is now highway 33. My Dad had to be a good manager for he raised his family on the small farm we lived on, and I can never remember being hungry. We grew corn, wheat, and lots of vegetables, which mother can, loads of food and store them in the cellar. We had to go outside to get into the cellar, and on rare occasions some of our can stuff would freeze but not very much. The house we lived in was not the best, but far from the worse. I have never been able to figure it out, we could lay in the bed on our backs and see the stars through the roof, however it never leaked. Snow sometimes would sift down on the bed covers, but we had feather bed ticks for the beds and we got warm pretty quick after getting into bed. In the morning the water would be frozen in the water bucket, even with the harsh environment we were very healthy. We would use old quilt and wheat straw for insulation to keep our can food from freezing, summer time was some better however there was some things that had to be looked out for, our milk would spoil for we did not have a refrigerator, so we had to keep our milk and butter in what was called the spring house, this was a small building built just below the spring head (where the water came from the ground). We would place flat rocks in the bottom of the spring branch which ran under the spring house, this was where we would sit the milk containers, which most likely was a small crock usually about a half gallon.

Snakes were plentiful on Skagge’s Ridge, in the copper head verity, black and a few rattle snakes although I never saw one we would hear their rattle and give them a wide berth. I remember the time when we came in from the field and mother had run a large copperhead snake into the wall behind the fire place, she had also killed a large yellow copperhead, so that meant there was a black copperhead some where close, dad got his chopping ax which he kept very sharp, mom showed him where the snake went in behind the boards in the chimmley corner, dad cut into the boards with the ax and cut two large copperhead in half. Mother said the snake she had killed was going toward one of the children, there was a large family of us at home at any one time, so to keep the young children from crawling out the door mom would lift the foot of the bed that was in the living room (or fire room as it was some time’s called), place our gown tail under the bed post and go about her house work. The steps were of large flat rocks, and the house was about four foot of the ground where the steps were located.

Mean-while on little Sycamore in the Nunn hollow Anna Mae was growing up in about the same circumstance’s that I was, except there was not near the threat of snakes where she lived, as where I lived because the land was more cleared. She worked the fields as I did, and helped her mother with the younger children. I attended Seal Chapel School in Rapshin (Ripshin) beginning when I was about six years of age. Some of the teachers that I remember, Mrs Emelie Bolton Rowe, Mr David Day, Mrs Maude Lynch, this was a one room school, one teacher taught the first through the eighth grades. We had one recess in the morning, dinner break then a recess in the after noon, For heat in the winter time we had a large pot belly stove in which we burned coal, one of the students had to come in early and build a fire so the house would be warm when the other students arrived. The School-Church Building was a weather boarded structure which means there were 2X4 studs, now days there would be insulation in the walls but when the building was built in the spring of nineteen hundred and nine there was no insulation used. Most of the time in cold weather the house was cool till up in the morning, we would have to wear our coats till the room warmed up. In spite of all the adverse conditions I think the students learned good. Mostly because the teachers were the best even though it was a small one room school we were required to learn our lessons, reading, writing, arithmetic, English, History, and Civic’s (the last need to be taught today). If we did not prepare our lessons properly we were give a good lashing, then most times when we got home we were given another. Also any infraction of the rules would bring a whipping, not with a paddle but with a dogwood switch. I know in this day and age this seams harsh and unkind but in those day we did not have shooting in our schools, We were required to learn our lessons good.

We not only grew most of the food we consumed, we also had milk cows for milk and butter, we slaughter hogs for meat and grease, had lots of chickens for meat and eggs, we also hunted wild game such as squirrel, rabbit, opossum, and ground hog, coon and deer were not found in the area of the country where we lived at the time, now they are almost every where. Mother washed in a big galvanized wash tub which was also use for the family bath tub. We made our own soap, I will never forget the odor that came from the kittle mother used when, mom would take the old pork trimming, and lye to make what we called Lye Soap. We used this soap to wash everything from floors to our body’s. When you see the Beverly Hillbillies on TV that was us minus the moonshine. When the early settlers came here they used what was available. We had a good spring for our drinking water, as well as a branch that ran beside the house. We used the spring house (A small building built over the stream that came form the spring) to keep our milk from spoiling. We were lucky to have a large gaggle of ducks, during the winter months the ducks would grow a heavy set of feathers. Along in the spring of the year mother would pluck the feathers from the ducks and make pillows and feather ticks for our beds. Our house was covered (roofed) with boards rived from white and red oaks, (shingles). Mother would sit the large cast iron kettle under the drip of the house to catch rain water for washing. At about four years of age I was standing in the door watching the cattle which was close to the house, mother had told us children to come back in the house and close the door as it was still cool, all did what mother told them to do except me. I just pulled the door close behind me and was standing on the threshold where mother could not see me. Not knowing that I was behind the door mother pushed the door close and out I went on top of the big cast iron kettle full of water, I struck my head just above the right eye, turning the kittle over with a rattle rattle bang, of course I was squalling, poor mother thought she had killed me but it only cut a gash and I still wear the scar above my right eye today seventy odd years later.

Having duck of course ment we had ducklins, them being creatures of habit when they went to the branch that ran close to the house they would line up behind their mother, There was a slim weed that grew around the house that due to insect had a knot next the blooms, I cut me one of them and was using it to keep the little ducklings in line, I taped one on the head just a little bit to hard and it fell over onto it’s back and started kicking, I knew I was in trouble with mother, so I took the little duckling which was dead as a door nail and put it under a flat rock in the branch, of course mother missed the ducklin and ask me about it, I said mom that big old turtle got that little duck. (mom knew) My Dad was the best manager I ever knew, He kept a roof over our heads, clothing and food. He had no formal education but he was not only smart he was intellengent also, You could give him a column of numbers and by the time you finished he could tell you the total. Dad could hardly read a news paper but he could read the Holy Bible and pronounce words that some college educated person could not. And I have my thought’s on that, I worked many a day hoeing corn and cutting briers and small bushed for one quarter a day. Pop as I mostly called him grew sugar cane for molasses and we would have what we called a stir off’s. Where the cane mil l was sit up, to me a small boy was a large flat area below the spring house. Many years later I returned to the old home place and I could almost jump across the flat area where the cane mill had been.

In nineteen and thirty nine (1939) next to the oldest boy joined the US Army. He bought us an Silver tone Radio from Sears which operated on a large six V battery. My favorite radio program was The Lone Ranger, and The Green Hornet, The Midday Merry Go Round was a country music program over WNOX Knoxville, Tennessee we got to listen to it some but on Saturday night we got to listen to the Grand Old Opera. WSM the Solemn Old Judge, this was a great treat to me for I loved the sound of bluegrass music even tho it would fade in and out.

We had some first cousins who were good musicians, and would often come to our house to play and sing. My oldest brother Virch bought himself a guitar. In those days money was hard to come by on the farm as a lot of our needs was obtained by barter, string for the guitar cost between .25 and .50 cents a set but you worked a twelve or thirteen hour day for a dollar. (we were still in the last day of the great depression) I got to wondering what would happen if I struck a lighted match to one of the strings, well I found out as I touched the small estring twang no more e-string and I am dead for my brother will kill me for sure. But I just got a good talking too and a good lesson learned.

2

My mother never went to the hospital to give birth to any of the twelve children that was born into the family. All twelve were born at home with a mid-wife in attendance. Aunt Dora Reed was one I remember and the other was a real tall thin, Negro woman we all called aunt Molly (Molly Mize) aunt Molly was present at my birth. Molly only lived maybe three tenths of a mile down the mountain from us and mother would get her to come and cook and clean till she was able to do the house work herself. Now there was in the yard a large white oak stump that was cut level about ten or twelve inch above ground level. When Molly would use the wash tub she would sit it on this stump, (meaning no disrespect to her) when she would bend over the tub her hind end would stick up like a mad wasp. Aunt Molly had been telling me I belonged to her, she had found me in a hollow log, now as the day progressed I was getting more sure that she was trying to take me away from mom. So I caught Aunt Molly bent over the wash tub and with my bare foot gave her a kick in the posterior