2007 Reunion of Charles and Mannie Lane Family

That Happy time is just around the corner when we cook up a mess of good food, round up the children and head for Newport, Arkansas. The reunion of Charles and Mannie Lane's family will be the Sunday September 9, 2007 this year and as always I am looking forward to seeing everyone.

Most of you know that one of my interests is preserving the family history by gathering genealogical information and stories about those of us living and those who have gone on before us. A year or so ago I mentioned in one of the NewsLetters that I thought it important to write some of our memories down so the younger generations could know a little about those we loved so dearly and get a small view of the world we grew up in. To stress the magnitude of trying to understand this big wonderful family of ours I recently attempted to count the direct descendants of Richard and Mannie Lane. Using the information Harriet Lane and I have gathered over the years and with the full knowledge that the family is a living and growing thing I counted 305 direct descendants and this is just the ones I have record of. This is not the true count of the family because I counted only the direct descendants of Charles and Mannie and it does not include the spouses who are as much family as those who were born into it.

Over the years I have jotted down a few memories and in this issue of the Lane/Layne, Westbrook and Williams Family NewsLetter I will share some of it with you.

Memories of Thurman Dwight Lane

I suppose I should start by saying my name is Thurman Dwight Lane. I was told that grand mother Mannie Lane named me Dwight after some radio soap opera guy that she liked, maybe it was the Thurman part, anyway that is what I wound up with. I was also told just about every 4th day of March for 51 years, that it snowed on the day of my birth. I would always ask mother to tell me about it and she had the story down pat. “We were living in a little shotgun house near Bay, Arkansas and Mrs. Lane and Mrs. Settlemire were there to help me. We were going to plant potatoes the next day and spent the evening eyeing the seed potatoes. We had them on the kitchen table when we went to bed and during the night it turned cold and snowed. The seed potatoes froze and they were ruined and we had to give them to the hogs. You were born that morning.” My journey began.

Writing these few thoughts down has given me time to reflect back and savor some of my early memories. I will say one thing at the very beginning. These are my memories and with the exception of the genealogy part, which has been lovingly researched, they are just that, memories.

Sarah Willyne, Vaughn Franklin and Ida Marie Collier about 1921

Family of Sarah Willyne 'Collier' Layne

Information on the early years of mother’s family is hard to find and to get an over all view I have had to rely on small bits of information from several sources.

My mother Sarah Willyne Collier Lane was born Sept 17, 1913 daughter of Joseph “Joe” Franklin Collier and Ada “Addie” Ethel Dobbs. Both grandparents were twins. Joseph or “Jodie” as his mother called him had a twin sister named Josie and married Addie whose twin sister was named Ida.

Grandfather Joseph was born January 17, 1885 in Izard County, Arkansas and grandmother Ada was born July 17, 1879 in Izard County, Arkansas. I don’t know all the places grandfather lived in Izard County but Sage was the place mentioned the most. Grandmother’s family lived in Barren Fork, (after 1917 it was called Mt. Pleasant), the Dry Town area and according to the diary of grandmother’s aunt Elizabeth J. Rudolph McSpadden, “Oct. 15, 1907 moved to Calico Rock”, all in Izard County, Arkansas.

Grandfather Joseph had the measles sometime around 19 or 20 years old and began loosing his eye site. I have had several people including a couple of Doctors tell me that this was probably not the reason he lost his eye sight but this is the way I always heard the story. He was able to work and the early job I remember hearing about most was driving a freight wagon for the merchants in Melbourne, Izard County, Arkansas. I think most of the trips were from the river landing at Guion to Melbourne both in Izard County. Sometime around the turn of last century Joseph and mother Sarah Francis Forrest Collier moved to Tuckerman in Jackson, County, where most of the work was farming. It was here where his mother Sarah Frances Forrest Collier was killed. This part of my memory is very fuzzy but the story as I remember grandpa Joe telling it was that he was in Newport, Arkansas when he heard the news of his mother’s death and ran and walked all the way back to Tuckerman using the railroad track. He was told that his mother was across the tracks from their home and saw the hogs in her garden. She hurried back over the tracks and didn’t hear the train and was struck and killed. I can not find the records of her death.

Ida Effie, Winfred and Ada Ethel 'Addie' Dobbs. The girls are twins about 16 years old.


Grandmother Addie died when mother was about 15 and I only heard stories of her. One thing I remember mother talking about was how grandmother Addie loved music and played the
Organ. Elizabeth J. Rudolph McSpadden was grandmother Addie’s aunt from the McSpadden side of the family. Elizabeth kept a daily journal and two books survived. In the entry for Feb. 3, 1900: “Mack Dobbs got them an Organ.” Mack Dobbs (John Ira McMellon Dobbs) was Addie Dobbs father and my great grandfather. In the days when getting a new dress could start with planting cotton and a new carpet started with raising sheep, buying an organ must have been a major expense. I don't know if this Organ was the one Mother remembered so fondly but it could be.

Grandpa Joe did remarry briefly, I never met her and only know her name, Lizzie Grimes, from records I found in Izard County. Joe lived with his daughter Ida Marie “Bea” Collier and they lived close to us most of the time. My childhood memories almost always have grandpa and Aunt Bea in them somewhere.



Joseph Franklin 'Joe' Collier

When I first started looking into the genealogy of my family I wrote down a few things about Grandpa Joe and kind of folded it up and set it aside. When I look at that writing now I realize it was all about jokes and pranks we pulled on him. He may not have been as fond of us as we thought, he may just wanted us close so he could “keep an eye on us”, (one of his expressions).



CHRISTMAS PRESENT



My early memories of Grandpa Joe start about 1948 or 1949 when I was about 4 or 5 years old. Dad had bought a small farm just south of Hoxie, Arkansas in the Pugh community, sometimes called Owl City community. Joe and Aunt Bea still lived near Lake City, Arkansas and would visit us now and then. I never knew how they got there, one day I would look down the old gravel road and there they were waving and smiling. One year they visited at Christmas and after all the hugging and stories about the trip had died down he got his bag of presents out and passed them around. Mine was a toy gun and I thought it was the best present in the world, later when we were along for a few minutes he gave me another toy gun and told me it was a special present just for me. Looking back I have a suspicion he did that for all my brothers just to make us feel special but I still think I was his favorite.

JOE-FER-SHORT

We moved to Hoxie, Arkansas in 1949 and around that time Joe and Aunt Bea moved there from Lake City. Joe at this time had lost most of his eyesight. This didn’t keep him from getting around. One story I remember hearing was about the nickname Joe-fer-short. He would hang around the service station where my Dad and Uncle worked. When he introduced himself he would say his name was Joseph Collier but you could call him Joe for short. Some of the people started calling him Joe-fer-short, one word.





PICKING COTTON

Even with his very limited eyesight Joe still tried to do the work and chores he had always done. Picking cotton was not only a way to pick up extra money but essential for most people to make a living. Joe had a pick sack that had been worn out, patched, turned over and worn out again. It had a big hole where the patch had came loose and I would pick cotton next to him and sneak cotton out of the hole and put it in my sack. Picking cotton is hard work and something I hated. I thought I had got away with this until one day, shortly before his death, we were talking about all the trouble I used to get into for not picking enough cotton. He said he thought that what I picked and what I got out of his sack should have been enough.

WATCHING RADIO

Grandpa Joe and Aunt Bea lived just south of Hoxie, Arkansas on my Uncle Vaughn’s farm in the very early 50s. I used to spend the night with him and we watched the radio. We would pull our chairs up in front of the radio and watch it as we listened to our favorite show. The radio was not as simple as it is today. It all depended how good your battery was, no electricity, and what station you wanted to listen to. We liked to listen to The Louisiana Hay Ride out of Shreveport, Louisiana and this required the antenna to be strung up just right. I would climb a tree and stretch it out as high as I could get it. To listen to The Grand OLE Opera I had to hang it from another tree so it would be facing the right way. One of grandpa’s favorite groups on the Grand OLE Opera was The Chuck Wagon Gang. We liked them all. The Louisiana Hayride was harder to get and most times it would fade in and out. We also watched the Lone Ranger, Amos and Andy and all the old great ones.

CHOPPING WOOD

With Grandpa’s poor eyesight, let me say you just didn’t want to be around while he was chopping wood.

MILKING COWS

Grandpa loved to try to do the things he did as a younger man. We lived on a farm just west of Hoxie, Arkansas in 1955 and 1956. Grandpa and Aunt Bea lived in our house in town with Uncle Vaughn and his family. Grandpa would visit the farm and try to help with the chores. One afternoon we were milking the cows and had the young calves in a holding pen waiting very impatiently for their turn. Grandpa was standing in the doorway and we turned the calves in without telling him. The first calf ran between his legs and he rode him without knowing what it was or what was happening. I’m sure there were times when he wanted to use that cane of his in our upbringing.


Grand Pa's Pipe
Grandpa loved to smoke a pipe and always had a favorite one. One day I decided to surprise him and clean them. I used my knife and dug and cut all the old dark stuff out and made them clean as new. Of course they were ruined but he never said a thing. I only knew about the damage that I had inflicted when Dad told me sometimes later.

COLD RC

I spent a lot of time in my childhood with Grandpa. From the time I started to school, it seems grandpa and aunt Bea lived close to us. I went by his house most afternoons after school. Many of these times I was rewarded with a COLD RC. I thought that was their name, not just RC COLA. On a really good day it was a COLD RC and a Jackson Sugar Cookie out of the big glass jar at the store. I still love a COLD RC and a Jackson Sugar Cookie.

FOURTH OF JULY

The fourth of July was always a good time for grandpa. He liked to go to the Portia Picnic at Portia, Arkansas. People from all over would attend the get together. He would find a good shady spot and spend the day visiting with old friends and listening to the politicians speak.

Charles Richard Lane

Father’s Family, Arthur, Albert, Floyd, George, Luther, Cledith and Charles Richard Lane seated.

My father, Luther Delbert Layne was born June 21, 1911 the son of Charles Richard Lane and Mannie Lee Vance. Grandfather Charles Richard Lane was born September 16, 1871 at Evening Shade, Sharp County, Arkansas. Grandmother Mannie Lee Vance was born September 4, 1882 at Maxville, Sharp County, Arkansas.

The following was taken from article in the Batesville Guard News Paper, written by Myrtle Pauline Lane Williams and daughter Carolyn:, “Dick Lane started working around mills while still a young boy. Soon he could handle any job at a mill, and he traveled over the area to help different owners. He worked at the famed Thompson Mill at Evening Shade, 'later identified with the Sharp, Medley, Metcalf, Smith, Edwards, Wolf, Hanford and perhaps other families.
Dick and Mannie at one time made their home on the Medley Place, where Deer Run Park is located today, south of Evening Shade, Arkansas. Later they moved to Poughkeepsie, Arkansas, where they lived on the Joe Doss Place. While living there, Dick worked at the George Jones Mill at Push. The Jones Mill was powered by a steam boiler and engine, and included a sawmill, gristmill and cotton gin. Dick remained at the Jones Mill until the coming of the depression in 1930 made work scarce. He then moved his family to Grubbs, Arkansas to pick cotton.”
The 1930 Federal Census for Sharp County, Arkansas taken on April 19, 1930 list Richard, Mannie and children Luther, Cledith, Rozella (Ozella), Pauline and George H. living a couple of houses from the George Jones family.
Arthur, Dessie and Arthur Jr. Lane were living in Trumann, Poinsett County, Arkansas when the census was counted on April 19, 1930. Their next door neighbor was Dessie's mother Leona Akins and brother Elmo and family, wife Mary and children Melburn and LaWanda. Arthur was working at a lumber mill,(Singer?). This may help explain the reason Richard and Mannie later moved to Trumann.


Mannie Lee 'Vance' Lane

Grandfather Lane died when I was about 19 years old and Grandmother Lane died when I was 16. To say I remember them need clarification. I have very few memories before 1947-48 when we moved to the Owl City farm just south of Hoxie, Arkansas. I do remember them visiting us at the farm but very little else. I also remember going to their home in Trumann and a few times and visiting uncles and aunts and cousins while they were there. This may have been the forerunner of what we call the Lane Reunion we celebrate today. I would also say that if you ask any of the young and very young children attending our annual reunion about grandparents, their answer would be similar to what mine would have been. A quick hug, a pat on the head and off to visit the cousins. We got a big hug and kiss from Grandma Lane with a little snuff thrown in for good measure. I don’t have any memory of close contact with Grandfather Lane. He did live with us for a while after Grandmother Lane’s death. If I remember it correctly he stayed for a while with each of his children.

Grandfather and Grandmother Lane were living in Trumann, Poinsett County, Arkansas when I grew old enough to remember them. I do remember them living in what I would call a shotgun house. It was very characteristic of the area and times with clapboard siding and a living room, bedroom and kitchen lined up in a row. The story I heard was if you pointed a shotgun in the front door of a “Shotgun House” and fired it, the pellets would go through the house and not hit anything. They had a small garden out back and an outdoor toilet. A couple of things stand out in my mind, one was they heated the house with a big coal burning, pot bellied stove. This was unusual to me because we always lived on a farm and burned wood. The coal seemed like a great idea, you just called the coal man and he delivered. I think most of my young memories had sawing, chopping or hauling wood in them. It was an every day thing, more on wood later. The other thing was the big clock. I can’t visualize it but I remember very well Grandfather Lane winding it and the sound it made.

The real fun part of visiting my grandparents in Trumann was visiting cousins. Uncle Arthur and aunt Dessie Lane and Uncle George and Aunt Bea Lane lived down the street.