CAMPBELL COUNTY, GA - BIOS Joseph Lee McBrayer Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Dianne Crawford Table of Contents page: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/campbell.htm Georgia Table of Contents: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm Exerpts from stories written down by Louvie Durrett McBrayer. She loved to write and recorded all the stories her father, Andrew Jackson Durrett, told her. Andrew was the son of Ben. He was a farmer by trade and a member of the Baptist Church. (From the McBrayer Book) My grandfather, Joseph Lee McBrayer, was the kindest man I've ever known. I have such fond memories of him and his beautiful, blue eyes. He was very crippled with arthritis in his latter days but would always "buck dance" when any of the grandchildren would ask him regardless of the pain it caused. Some of my fondest memories were of riding on the old mule while he plowed. I was a small child and thought this was a beautiful white horse. I would visit my grandparents in the Summer and remember fishing in the creek with a stick with a string tied to it and a bent pin for a hook. What fun I had until evening when I would get homesick and PawPaw would take me to the spring behind Bethel church as a treat and to get my mind off being homesick. He was truly a wonderful, gentle man. The following are some stories from my grandmother's little notebook about Joe McBrayer: Joe McBrayer was one of eleven children and was slender, quick and active. When he grew older he had two or three fights a day at school and a whipping when he got home, which was like water on a ducks back. All the boys tried him but he was never whipped. He was so quick, limber and agile. He was the best ball player on the school yard and always chosen for the team. His Mother never could keep clothes on him. He kept both pant legs split from the pocket to the hem, and when he ran they filled with air and did he look funny. He was good to help his Mother but didn't want to work in the field. When he was 13 years old he changed and went to work and the rest of his life he worked hard. Old Riley and Josie Carroll were negroes who lived near their home in a tenant house. Josie was an ex-slave raised in the big white house among the white children and was nice, clean and an expert cook. Joe and his brother, Will, liked to go see her. She smoked and let them smoke her pipe. She chewed tobacco and taught them how. They had a time slipping their Dad's tobacco to chew. The smokehouse was made of logs with cracks between that you could see through. Dad brought in a box of tobacco, opened it, left the lid off and took out a plug or two. He set the box on a shelf with the lid open. The smokehouse full of meat, beef, lard, etc., was kept locked. One Sunday everyone went off and left Will and Joe at home. They were out of tobacco but couldn't reach Dads. Will was very good at solving problems and took a long stick that would reach across the smokehouse, ground the head off a nail, pushed it into the end of the stick then ground the point of the nai! l, sharp. He poked it through the crack to the tobacco, stuck it in a plug, backed off til the tobacco was in reach of Joe, who reached through and took it off the nail. Their Mother caught them chewing, brought them in, put a chew (a big one) in each of their mouths, tied a cloth across their mouths, sat them down in the middle of the room and told them to get busy. They chewed but couldn't spit and had to swallow it. Soon they were so sick!!! She took the rags off and let them go. They ran out into the yard where Will threw his pug away and never wanted anymore tobacco but Joe kept his.} }