Jackson County Louisiana Archives News.....Pirkle, J. M. writes of visit to childhood home in Ala. . ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Candace (Teal) Gravelle tealtree@comcast.net January 20, 2007, 2:07 pm "The Cleburne News" . Heflin, Cleburne Co., Alabama NEWSPAPER Issue of Thursday, AUGUST 9, 1934 FORMER CLEBUREITE WRITES TO EDITOR (Letter from J.M. Pirkle) Quitman, Louisiana, July 27, 1934 Dear Mr. Editor, I was born near Bell Mills, on May 15, 1874 and lived there until December 7, 1903, when with my little family, I boarded the train at Heflin that night bound for Louisiana. We changed cars at Birmingham and Meridian and crossed the Mississippi River on a ferry boat. We landed at Rushton 12:20 the next day. We lived in Louisiana for a few years and moved to Texas and stayed a few years and came back to Louisiana and have lived on this place eighteen years. July 6, 1934, I went to Shreveport on a visit to my oldest son and family. Then on Sunday morning, my niece Mrs. Tillman Thornton, her husband and children of Waco, Texas came by, bound for Alabama. So I got into the car with them at 11:30, went through Ruston, Monroe and crossed the Mississippi River at Vicksburg on a toll bridge; we went through Jackson and Meridian, Livingston, Eutaw, Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Pratt City and Jasper, on to Navoo, to the home of my brother Floyd Pirkle. We were on the road all night, finally arriving at my brother's at 10:45 next morning. We stayed with them until Thursday morning, then, Floyd and his wife went with us to Cleburne county. We went through Birmingham, Leeds, Pell CIty, Anniston and on to Heflin, my old home town. Then we traveled through scenes of my boyhood days, and then in a few minutes we were passing the James Tyler place, then W.M. Evans place. Soon we were passing the old school house place near Salem church where I went to school a number of years, first to J.R. Barker and then others. Next we passed the Isaac York's patch, now in cultivation and people living there. Next the Cross Roads and then my old home place. The next minute we were passing the river bottoms of our old place, then along the foot of the hills and through Rev. H. Allen and Johnnie G. Jones' farms. Then we crossed the river to Bell Mills. Soon we re-crossed the old river and went on to my sister's home, Mrs. W.T. Pesnell living near Pine Grove church. The trip from Heflin to Bell Mills was made in a few minutes, when formerly it took hours to make it. That afternoon, my brother-in-law Mr. Pesnell carried Floyd and I to Heflin in his car but the stores being closed, there were not many people in town, although I met a few old friends and I saw my cousin Mrs. L. Gaines and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. W.J. Davis. We then went back to my old home and met Mr. Sayer. We walked down to the field and across the bottoms to the river. Mr. Sayer carried us across the river in a boat. Next we went to the home of J.A. Champion. Mrs. Champion is a cousin to my wife. Returning to Mr. Sayer's we started back and left the highway and went by the home of Rev. W.M. Barr and saw him and his wife. Mr. Barr, Howard White, Luther Davidson and I worked for J.A. Brown in 1901. I worked in the store most of the time and in the field part of the time. My sister's daughter, Mrs. Phillips and husband living at Anniston were there on a visit, when we arrived from Heflin. We visited my sister's oldest son living down on the river. The next morning we went to what was formerly Old Liberty church where we used to worship, but the building is gone and the place is growing up in briars, weeds and bushes. The church yard and the road to the spring have grown up in sapplings but we found the spring all right which is walled up with rocks and looked just as it did the first time I saw it. Of course we all quenched our thirst there. We went into the cemetery where I saw where my mother was laid to rest more than fifty years ago, and other members of the family buried there since then. Returning to my sister's home we found all her children there and had a most enjoyable time. Soon we started back to my brother's home and stopped in Heflin. I ate luch with J.G. Jones and we had an enjoyable visit. My brother and the others ate lunch with the editor, after lunch we all met J.H. Pirkle, county superintendant of Education, who is also a relative of ours, and had a pleasant visit at Anniston. I saw George Phillips and Allen Garner; stopped at Pratt City and ate supper with Floyd's sister-in-law Mrs. Jones and family. About two hours later we arrived at Floyd's and stayed there until the next Wednesday. It was an enjoyable and delightful trip to see my brother and sister and their families and other relatives and friends that I had not seen in over 30 years. J.M. Pirkle File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/jackson/newspapers/pirklejm57gnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/lafiles/ File size: 5.2 Kb