Chapter One: The Beginning, 1895-1907

In this post we are introduced to Pearl’s parents Peter and Melvina, and the Thornton grandparents. The mother and father meet and marry. Melvina, often referred to as “Vinie”, has four pregnancies in the first 11 years of their marriage. Only two children survive beyond infancy. This young family make several moves during this post, and Pearl demonstrates remarkable early childhood memories.

          

A little context may help you read these following posts: Mama begins by telling of this early Thornton history (circa 1895). Peter’s father, William Issac Thornton is now 58 y.o. and Peter’s mother, Elizabeth Lasiphene Ware Thornton is 47 y.o. She has delivered nine children, the last, Charley, b 1888. Sadly, in 1885 their first child, Almeda May, age 16, died of “dropsy” (heart failure: probable cause was rheumatic fever/heart valve damage) while the family was living in Fannan Co., Texas.

Fannon County, Tx. borders the Red River to the north.  So the Thorntons have moved across the river, and they are living in the small town of Blue, Indian Territory bordered on the south by the Red River. This is in the Choctaw country, I.T., near Durant, then headquarters of the Choctaw Nation.  

William Issac has become “a zealous Baptist missionary” to the Indians, according to Pearl’s earlier description. That is the apparent reason for moving into I.T. Durant and Blue are in the southern part of Indian Territory near the Red River.

But, as story moves along, Pete marries and his young family travels west by train, where they enter the southwestern part of Oklahoma Territory, about 150 miles west of Blue. W.I.’s family has already moved out west. This southwest corner is Kiowa and Commanche lands. These tribes have decided to auction off some of their assigned lands. One section is an area called “The Big Pasture”. It soon becomes part of Tillman County, in the new state of Oklahoma in 1907. It is where Pearl and Frank met, married, bought a farm and raised all of their children. My home!

Enjoy the adventures! Ray

(This begins Pearl’s writing)

XII.  AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SECTION

As this section of Thornton history begins, a quotation or two about memory is appropriate, as much of this writing will lean heavily on my memory.

                Mary H. Waldrip said, “Memory is the diary we all carry about with us.”

              “Music is the way our memories sing to us across time,” said Lance Morrow, quoted in Time Magazine ; and music will figure quite prominently in this       autobiography as eras of time pass in panoramic view before our eyes.

               Hal Boyle:  “Memory is the best of all gardens.  Therein, winter and summer, the seeds of the past lie dormant, ready to spring into instant bloom at any moment the mind wishes to bring them to life.” 

               And on looking back, James Herriot says, “My past is a sweet, safe place to be.”(Favorite Memories of a Country Vet)

     Whereas the incidents of the story thus far have been acquired from some secondary sources, such as records, written and oral, it will now continue for the most part, with recollections, mainly from primary sources.  I do rely on other persons to reinforce my recall in many cases, however.  Before this section is begun, let us consider Pete’s and Vinie’s beginnings plus a brief sketch of Vinie’s family.

      Peter Hamilton Thornton (Pete), born April 12, 1875), married Margaret Melvina Watts (Born in Alabama December 24, 1880) at Whitefield, Indian Territory, on October 4, 1896.  “This marriage was solemnized by John Hill, Minister of the Gospel.” (in Vinie’s writing)  It is not known for sure where the Watts family resided at the time of the marriage; whether in the area of Whitefield or in the Blue and Bennington area near Durant.  Pete recalled the Watts family moving into the community where they lived at Blue, I. T. with four beautiful young daughters.  One day as Pete and Jim rode horseback on their way into town they saw the pretty girls standing under the shade trees by the house.  Both Pete and Jim, on sight, chose a girl to be his wife.  As Pete boasted, “I got mine, but Jim didn’t get his choice!”

    The Watts family had removed from Alabama to Indian Territory, but the time of this move is unknown. W. F. Watts was born September 12, 1858, (place unknown). Margaret Melvina (Gray) Watts was both July 25, 1860 in Alabama, receiving her education in that state.  This couple was united in marriage on July 25, 1876.  Their first daughter, Delia, was born (ca) 1877.  Mary Elizabeth, also known as Mollie, born (ca) 1878; Margaret Melvina, also known as Vinie, born 1880; and Roxie, born (ca) 1882.

The ethnic origin of W. F. Watts has not been established but is reported to be an “Irish-looking type” man, ruddy complexioned, blue-eyed, sandy red hair. His wife Margaret Melvina Gray Watts, was, according to her testimony, one-quarter degree Cherokee Indian. Although several avenues have been explored in search of evidence of her Indian heritage, they are all to no avail. We have only word of mouth of her testimony passed on to this generation. Obviously, her Indian blood was not registered, consequently, no records are available. Margaret Watts died August 9, 1899. W. F. Watts remarried, a woman named Lillie in 1900 and reared another family, a son, Columbus Watts, two daughters, one of whom was Carrie, but the others name is unknown. This limited information is all that is known of them. After wife Lillie’s death, W. F. Watts married an older woman (name unknown). He died in 1948 past 90 years of age.

      Pete and Vinie had a son born to them in 1898, they named him Homer.  Statistics are sparse concerning the short life of this little son as he died in infancy.  Records of places of birth, death and burial are not available.  In 1900, a daughter was born to the couple.  They named her Uda.  She, also, lived only a brief time and likewise there are no vital statistics available in her case.

After moving to Stigler, Indian Territory, Zula Pearl Thornton was born (January 27, 1905) to the young Thorntons.  It is not recorded where the Thorntons made their home during the next two years, but this brings us to the move west to the Oklahoma Territory which we have discussed. 

 (The following is inserted as passage “which we have discussed”. It occurs early in 1907, just 2 years following Pearl’s January birth.)

     P. H. Thornton, better known as “Pete”, and his wife “Vinie” with two year old Pearl came by train from Indian Territory to the Western part of Oklahoma Territory.  Railroads were running East to West through Vernon, Texas, and now the branch line to Davidson made the trip rather convenient to W. I.’s and Lasiphene’s home.  

Vinie was an expectant mother at the time, and it is not recorded the way in which the rest of the family fared on the train trip West, but Pete and Vinie recalled that Pearl, two years of age, was train sick as the rocking coaches made their way along the track.  That was only the beginning; travel sickness plagues me to this day!

     We arrived at the Thornton home,  the last leg of which was either by the horse and buggy piloted by either W. I. or Charley, or perhaps by wagon and a two-horse team as Pete and Vinie had considerable baggage.

The Thorntons, including their nineteen year old son, Charley, lived in the two room structure that Jesse Ware (ed. Lasiphene’s brother) had built as he obtained the tract of land in 1901.  They were gracious enough to move into one room of the house, giving one room to Pete’s family.  This “crowding up”, as we would call it in our day, was common practice as family relatives removed East to West in those days.

     Obviously, I have no memory or recall of those days but imagine that I do because of the many times I heard my parents and grandparents repeat the incidents that occurred in this period of my life.  I contracted an eye infection simply referred to as “sore eyes”.  It was transferable to others, especially to other children, and great care was taken to prevent its spreading.  The infection would cover a period of some eight to ten days; sometimes causing the small victims to experience total blindness for a few days.  While my eyes were swollen completely closed Papa brought home a doll for me to help quiet my crying and to help relieve my frustration.  Although I could feel her pretty face and her tiny hands and feet, I could only imagine her beauty until one day my eyes began to open just a little and I saw her for the first time!  

     What a relief the family must have experienced on that day!  It is only natural for small children to want to go to grandmother’s house, but my Mother forbade me that pleasure.  I soon learned to go out our door and slip around the house to where I could visit with Grandpa as he sat outside on his doorstep.  I was likely already quite fluent in the English language, so Grandpa would amuse himself by talking with me.  In the process he began teaching me to count, eventually leading me to learn to count to ten.  At two years of age, this was an accomplishment, and received with great joy by all the family.

  Another occurrence, which I recall, when Mama was bathing me, lying across her lap with my head hanging down on one side of her and my legs dangling on the other, I noticed for the first time how items in the kitchen looked upside down!  Child psychologists claim that this experience occurs in the first year.  (How do they know this?  Oh well, so much for that!  Probably my very first “preserved” memory!)

 In the months that followed, another daughter was born to the Pete Thorntons.  They named her Jewell.  She was my sister, a little dark-eyed, dark-haired girl, the very image of Mother.  She was to become my little playmate and companion for only two short years; but with daughters Pearl and Jewell, this young couple must have felt richly endowed with their small family to love and care for!

The date of Jewell Thornton’s birth is not recorded in the archives of Oklahoma’s vital statistics, but I assume in the early spring probably the month of March, 1907.

     Living in our one room domain, a part of my Grandparents home, I’m sure Mother felt very inhibited, to say the least; that she was an imposition upon the family in many ways.  While she rested in bed following Jewell’s birth, laundry must be done and Aunt Mag, who lived in Frederick, O. T., some eight miles away and Aunt Bee, from Fannin County, Texas, were at the home doing the laundry one day.  Aunt Mag had no children but Aunt Bee had two small boys and likely Grandma and Grandpa were taking care of the children, including Pearl, while the girls did the laundry out in the shade beside the house.  They were happy to be together, no doubt, if it were over a steaming tub and washboard!  But Mother, lying helpless, was suffering both wrath and frustration, spoke to Grandma about the girls laughing and talking, believing they were talking about her!  This was a natural way of venting her frustration and anger; of course, her sisters-in-law were not talking of her, but this incident only portrays my Mother’s sensitive nature.

      By the summer of 1907, both W. I. Thornton’s family and Pete’s family had left the Merritt N. Ware (ed. Lasiphene’s father) homestead, which was sold to the Williams in August, 1906.  W. I., Lasiphene and Charley moved into a small house on the farm owned by Lula Dove and Elias Hatcher.  They made this their home for some two and one-half years, where the older couple were retiring and Charley worked single-handedly maintaining the home.  {ed.This move was east 20 miles to Randlett. Pearl will write extensively about returning and living here.}

Seeking land to farm, Pete and Vinie with their two small daughters left the homestead with the shelter and support of the W. I. Thornton family and arrived in Comanche County, Texas in the latter part of 1907 (or the early part of 1908).  In leaving Oklahoma, we moved from a brand new state, as Oklahoma became the forty-sixth state of the United States on November 16, 1907!  I do not recall the move to Comanche County, Texas, as I was only in my third year, but a few instances of permanent recall are beginning to be imprinted in my memory as my young life unfolds and progresses in its development.

                                                                                     (This concludes the inserted material. The next post will resume her autobiographical reports of Commanche County, Tx.)