At age one year six months, my Brave Little Taylor walked four blocks to a friend's house by himself when my parents lived on Main Street.
He walked to the end of the street that we lived on, turned left onto Central Avenue, walked two blocks, turned onto South Spur Street for about half a block to where my friend lived.
We had walked to this address many times, and my Brave Little Taylor remembered the way.
When my Brave Little Taylor was 10 months old, we moved to Killen into a three-room house with no indoor plumbing.
There was an outhouse within walking distance; we had to walk through tall grass to get to it.
Our drinking and bathing water came from a sweet spring behind our house. A shed was built over the spring to protect the clean, fresh water.
The house we lived in was built of wooden planks, with a tin roof, wood floors, and sheetrock walls.
We had a coal heater for the cold months and a window fan for the summer months.
We only lived at that location for about a year.
While we lived in that house, my Brave Little Taylor went for a joy ride.
I had left my Brave Little Taylor sitting in the car to run inside to brush my teeth. A big mistake!
While I was brushing my teet,h I heard a click. Then I saw the car rolling down the hill. Our house was built on the side of a small hill.
I started running toward the car. There was a fence between me and it, so I jumped the wall, grabbed the handle, and jumped inside just in time, for it was headed for the big oak tree in the field near our home.
I never thought much about leaving my Brave Little Taylor inside the car because I knew he could not drive or crank it.
It had a floor shift that had been taken off the column and moved to the floor. My brave Little Taylor was playing in the floorboard of the car when he bumped the floor gear shift; it knocked it out of gear, and it started rolling down the hill.
We bought a long wire cage with wooden legs and a tin roof for the black rabbit we had bought for my Brave Little Taylor.
One morning I went outside to feed the rabbit, I opened the top of his cage and out flew a swarm of wasps, they chased me all the way to the house.
I felt so sorry for the rabbit. He was ok because I never saw him again after that.
The three-room house was built on Hubby's great-grandfather's old homestead.
The old home place was still standing, but just barely.
My father-in-law said he thought his friend was going to buy the home place, so he did not bid on it when it was auctioned off; some stranger bought it.
My father-in-law's grandmother, Sally, was sick for a very long time and was cared for by a woman named Martha.
In 1935, Sally died, and her husband, Charley, married the woman who had been caring for her, and they lived together until he died in 1941.
After his death, Martha sold the land. From what I remember hearing, she was taken advantage of by a local lawyer, and the land was auctioned off.
At one time, that area was owned by their family
My father-in-law was just a small boy when his grandfather died.
My father-in-law's parents had purchased eighty acres from his grandfather.
The old home place was later torn down by Hubby and brother-in-law.
My sister and her husband later lived in this same three-room house for about a year after we moved out.
We moved about half a mile from our present home to the new brick, three-bedroom house with indoor plumbing.
Our new home was built by Hubby's Uncle Doc.
About a year later, Doc was killed when a giant horse got loose. He ran out into the highway in front of Doc's truck.
When Doc's truck hit the horse, the steering wheel in his car lodged into Doc's stomach, and he was killed instantly.
The land where we built our new home was once a pigpen, which made it exceptionally fertile, and it had been cleared for the pig houses; it was given to us by my in-laws.
I no longer had to walk to the spring house for drinking water.
I was always afraid that I would find a snake or spider waiting for me when I went for that fresh, sweet drinking water.
We had fresh water from a well drilled over 90 feet deep until it hit a rock.
Our pump was placed under our brick home, which we would later share with family.
Hubby's grandmother bought our first air conditioner; we no longer used window fans.
She bought our first automatic washing machine so I would no longer have to fill my Brave Little Taylors big red wagon full of dirty clothes and walk to my in-laws' house to wash clothes on her
wringer washing machine.
I did not have a dryer, so I had to hang my clothes on a clothesline; you could see diapers blowing in the wind just about every day.
Times were still hard but they were a lot easier than when we first began in that three-room house on Hubby's great-grandfather's former home estate
He walked to the end of the street that we lived on, turned left onto Central Avenue, walked two blocks, turned onto South Spur Street for about half a block to where my friend lived.
We had walked to this address many times, and my Brave Little Taylor remembered the way.
When my Brave Little Taylor was 10 months old, we moved to Killen into a three-room house with no indoor plumbing.
There was an outhouse within walking distance; we had to walk through tall grass to get to it.
Our drinking and bathing water came from a sweet spring behind our house. A shed was built over the spring to protect the clean, fresh water.
The house we lived in was built of wooden planks, with a tin roof, wood floors, and sheetrock walls.
We had a coal heater for the cold months and a window fan for the summer months.
We only lived at that location for about a year.
While we lived in that house, my Brave Little Taylor went for a joy ride.
I had left my Brave Little Taylor sitting in the car to run inside to brush my teeth. A big mistake!
While I was brushing my teet,h I heard a click. Then I saw the car rolling down the hill. Our house was built on the side of a small hill.
I started running toward the car. There was a fence between me and it, so I jumped the wall, grabbed the handle, and jumped inside just in time, for it was headed for the big oak tree in the field near our home.
I never thought much about leaving my Brave Little Taylor inside the car because I knew he could not drive or crank it.
It had a floor shift that had been taken off the column and moved to the floor. My brave Little Taylor was playing in the floorboard of the car when he bumped the floor gear shift; it knocked it out of gear, and it started rolling down the hill.
We bought a long wire cage with wooden legs and a tin roof for the black rabbit we had bought for my Brave Little Taylor.
One morning I went outside to feed the rabbit, I opened the top of his cage and out flew a swarm of wasps, they chased me all the way to the house.
I felt so sorry for the rabbit. He was ok because I never saw him again after that.
The three-room house was built on Hubby's great-grandfather's old homestead.
The old home place was still standing, but just barely.
My father-in-law said he thought his friend was going to buy the home place, so he did not bid on it when it was auctioned off; some stranger bought it.
My father-in-law's grandmother, Sally, was sick for a very long time and was cared for by a woman named Martha.
In 1935, Sally died, and her husband, Charley, married the woman who had been caring for her, and they lived together until he died in 1941.
After his death, Martha sold the land. From what I remember hearing, she was taken advantage of by a local lawyer, and the land was auctioned off.
At one time, that area was owned by their family
My father-in-law was just a small boy when his grandfather died.
My father-in-law's parents had purchased eighty acres from his grandfather.
The old home place was later torn down by Hubby and brother-in-law.
My sister and her husband later lived in this same three-room house for about a year after we moved out.
We moved about half a mile from our present home to the new brick, three-bedroom house with indoor plumbing.
Our new home was built by Hubby's Uncle Doc.
About a year later, Doc was killed when a giant horse got loose. He ran out into the highway in front of Doc's truck.
When Doc's truck hit the horse, the steering wheel in his car lodged into Doc's stomach, and he was killed instantly.
The land where we built our new home was once a pigpen, which made it exceptionally fertile, and it had been cleared for the pig houses; it was given to us by my in-laws.
I no longer had to walk to the spring house for drinking water.
I was always afraid that I would find a snake or spider waiting for me when I went for that fresh, sweet drinking water.
We had fresh water from a well drilled over 90 feet deep until it hit a rock.
Our pump was placed under our brick home, which we would later share with family.
Hubby's grandmother bought our first air conditioner; we no longer used window fans.
She bought our first automatic washing machine so I would no longer have to fill my Brave Little Taylors big red wagon full of dirty clothes and walk to my in-laws' house to wash clothes on her
wringer washing machine.
I did not have a dryer, so I had to hang my clothes on a clothesline; you could see diapers blowing in the wind just about every day.
Times were still hard but they were a lot easier than when we first began in that three-room house on Hubby's great-grandfather's former home estate
Hard times! and Good Times!
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