BUSTER: The Wonderful Dog, Part II (Conclusion)

     (I am trying again; mybe it will work this time).........So my sister Glads and her husband lived on Pea Ridge and had this dog named Buster.   They inivited her Aunt, Maude (she was not my Aunt as Glads and I had different Mothers, but I called her Aunt Maude also, with her permission) to come spend the day.  Later that morning Jesse asked Aunt Maude if she would like a fried squirrel for lunch, and she said, "Where on earth are you going to get a squirrel...its almost lunch time now?"  Jesse told her he would send Buster after one.  So he told Buster to go get a squirrel.  Aunt Maude said, "Jesse, you know that dog can't understand you".  Jesse replied,"Just give her fifteen minutes, Aunt Maude and she will be back with a squirrel".  Well, a few minutes passed and Aunt Maude said, "Where's that squirrel, Jesse?"   Jesse said,"Well, now you wait a minute its only been ten minutes"  About two minutes later here comes Buster up on the front porch with a live squirrel in its mouth.  Aunt Maude was astonished.  The woods were full of squirrels and other 4 legged creatures.  Well, Jesse dressed the squirrel and Glads parboiled it, and then rolled in flour and fried it and made the most delicioius gravy to go along with the hot biscuit she had just baked in that iron wooden stove.  So that was lunch, and Buster got some too.  This is a true story, and for many years later Glads and Jesse loved to tell this story.  I had fried squirrel there too.  Maybe Buster knew we were living during the Depression era and she needed to help out.               (Will try to do the Ecudorian dog story soon if I can get this computer to work...Norton has told me the cookies have been fixed...we will see.)

AN 1896 FAMILY INCIDENT

My Father was the eldest of eleven children. They lived on a small farm in Bount County, Alabama. He was born in 1875. Eeking out a living on a small farm in those days was a laborious chore. The incident I am going to tell you was not told to me by my Father nor by any relative. I told it to a cousin, who I look upon as our clan's family historian, but she said she had never heard of such a thing either. I was wondering if it were a common practice to do this back in those olden days. It was told to me several years ago by a non-related eldery man. I believe it to be true, but it is odd that I had never heard of it before. In February 1896...here we go now...my Father turned age 21 and he was still living at home. His Father told him you are 21 now and time for you to leave home. To help him on his way, his father told him he could have $50.00 cash or a mule and ten acres. My Father chose the $50.00. He spent the day and left the next morning after breakfast. His Father gave him some money. He (my Father) counted it, and it only came to $47.50. He inquired of his father, "Where is the rest of it?" His father replied, "Well, you ate supper, that's .75 cents, you had a night's lodging, that's $1.25, and you ate breakfast, thats .50 cents" So my Father took the money and departed for Waxahachie, Texas--the county seat of Ellis County, Texas, located just South of Dallas. I have heard that several families from Blount County, AL. migrated there back in latter 1800s when cheap land here was no longer available. They liked the area as it was hilly, similar to Blount County, I am told. My Dad stayed there at least one year, if not longer, I am not sure. He attended a school there and worked on the side. He returned to Blount County and lived there for the remainder of his life. He was a Teacher-Principal in rural elementary schools, often being only one or two rooms..maybe three or four sometimes. Have you ever heard of a similar incident?

When, Why & How

In January, 1846, William (Billy) Cornelius of Blount County, Alabama, was notified by authorities inn Manchester, TN that they were holding a Negro slave who said he belonged to said Cornelius. He was told to come up, identify him, and take him back. Mr. Cornelius, a widower, went there, but there was a delay in relasing the person to him (we think he had to send back for his Certificate of Ownership). Meanwhile, he stayed at an Inn operated by a Mr and Mrs. Bostick. The Bostics had a widowed daughter and her five young children living with them. Before it was all over, Mr. Cornelius, a widower, needed a housekeeper, and she needed help in raising the children, were married in Manchester in January, 1846. Mr.Cornelius brought his new family to his farm in Blount County, AL., and raised them well. He did not adopt them, so they kept their Ingram name, being children of Council Brewton Ingram and Sarah Bostic Ingram. The children were: Caroline, Mary, Robert, Rufus and Augustus (latter later known as "Capt Gus"). William (Billy)Cornelius and Sarah had one child by their marriage, William Bostic Cornelius. Here I stop with family history for the time being.....needless to say, now many offspring reside in all four corners of the World........well, the World does have four corners, doesn't it??? "Mesodumb". I am a descendant of Rufus Alexander Ingram. Thanks to the runaway slave for allowing me to be born in good ole Blount County, Alabama!!!