Lincoln County Louisiana Archives News.....Memories of a House; Family Members Recall “Good Ole Days” January 23, 1976 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Robert Hendrick rshendjr@bellsouth.net January 21, 2007, 2:05 pm Ruston Daily Leader January 23, 1976 BY RUTH ALEXANDER Family News Editor Remodeling work will begin after the first of June at the building housing the Lincoln Museum and Historical Society and the offices of the Ruston Chamber of Commerce. The two story white frame house on 609 N. Vienna Street in Ruston is a donation to the Museum and Historical Society by the heirs of former owners, Mrs. Mary Olive Davis Green of Ruston and Mrs. Charlotte Elizabeth Davis Parrott of Alexandria. The stately residence is one of the oldest buildings in Ruston, just how old exactly is not known. Who lived in the home and how was life in those first decades of the town life of Ruston? Who could answer those questions better than Mrs. Dorothy Kidd Sholars of Monroe and Mrs. Margery Kidd Nicol, who both were born in the home? In a recent interview with both ladies we carne up with the story of a happy childhood spent in the "Big House" until the year 1921 when the house was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Wesley Davis. HISTORY On Dec. 3, 1885 Mr. Leroy Madison Kidd, a businessman from Vernon, purchased a 300 feet square block in Ruston, 300 feet on Vienna and running back between Virginia, S. Carolina and Trenton, from Mr. Robert E. Russ for the cash sum of $600. A few days later, on Dec. 10, 1885, he sold the north half of the block, as listed in the plat of, town, for $337.50 to Minnie A. Harris and husband Charles H. Harris. For some reason, unknown until today, the Harris family sold the property to Milton Bailey Kidd, an older brother of L.M. Kidd on July 23, 1886, just seven months after purchase. M.B. Kidd, who held a mor¬tgage on the property, paid $1,400 to the Harris's who left town shortly after the tran¬saction. The Kidds, by the way, came to Ruston from Vernon in Jackson Parish. Vernon was a thriving town before the turn of the century but fell into Cin¬deralla sleep when the railroad bypassed it. According to Mrs. Nicol, all three Kidd brothers were engaged in what she would like to call the first business chain in this part of Louisiana. M.B. lived in Vernon, another in Ruston and another farther north in Vienna. Well, until this time, it is uncertain who built or started building the house on this block, which soon will serve as a Lincoln Parish Museum. In comparing the price the Harris family paid to purchase the land and the price they received only seven months later, it seems almost certain that they have built the house or at least have started its con¬struction. The fact is known that M. B. Kidd and his wife Martha Frances Sholars lived in the house from 1886 until they died. Mr. Kidd, who served as Capt. in the Civil War, died in 1888, having lived only a few years in the big house, and his wife died in 1908. She lived with her son and his family until her death in 1908. Both are buried in the Greenwood Cemetery. The couple had two children, Emmett Leroy Kidd, a son, and May, a daughter. She married a Mr. J.M. Smith from Far¬merville. E.L. Kidd, later to be known as Capt. Kidd, was married to Minnie Mayfield Kidd. Capt. Kidd was Captain of Co. F. 1st Reg. La. Volunteers participated in the Spanish¬ American War in 1898. The Kidd family lived a happy life in their Ruston residence. Mr. Kidd was a prosperous businessman in this area where cotton was still King. Alter the railway carne to Ruston the local cotton farmers could sell and ship their cotton right here in Ruston, bringing more and more various businesses into the town. In 1895, the couple's first daughter was born, Dorothy Mayfield, the present Mrs. Allen Sholars of Monroe. Five years later, in 1900, another daughter was born, Margery Mayfield, the present Mrs. George Nicol of Ruston. Both daughters were born in the front bedroom. As the family grew, rooms were added to the house which had eight gables after the final addition. Upon entering there was the parlor of music room to the right, fo11owed by the dining room toward the butler’s pantry and kitchen onto the back. On the left, there was the bedroom, a sitting room and the large Master bedroom toward the back of the house. Between kitchen and Master Bedroom was the trunk room and the later added bedroom for daughter Margery. Toward the south, daughter Dorothy moved into the room in which grand¬mother Kidd stayed until her death in 1908. Mrs. Kidd was a great gar¬dener and horticulturist. She was the first one in Ruston to have a green house and was extremely proud of the formal and English Garden in front of the new house. Mrs. Sholars remembers well when her Hybrid Roses, La France, and the prettiest violets on long stems which lined the front yard. The property was enclosed with a picket fence and toward the northwest was a huge barn housing the horse and buggy. In the back yard were large vines of scuppernongs and the nearby vegetable garden provided the family with fresh vegetables and fruit according to the season. In the back of the house was the well which was later covered and inc1uded in a bedroom for the youngest daughter. Natura11y, there was the privy outside, but they were the first house in Ruston to have two bathrooms. Prior to insta11ed plumbing the children took their baths in big tubs placed on the southside of the house with sun warming the water. People didn’t bathe as much in those days as they do today. The house has four fireplaces and some iron stoves. But it never was really warm in wintertime. A fresh breeze came through during the summers with windows reaching from floor to ceiling. They had screens to keep the insects out. For recreation there was a large grass tennis court in the back of the house, probably the only one in town. Mrs. Sholars believes that the population was not much more than 2500 when she grew up. Postal service was there but hardly ever used. Notes were sent by a servant from house to house. Many years ago, there was a stairway leading toward the upstairs. It is now at another place. The huge upstairs room was divided into a large and small room. The small room was for the children to play in. Everybody in the family loved to dance. While Dorothy and Margery grew up, it was the waltz and two-step, their parents preferred, the waltz. Capt. Kidd loved music and books. He required his daughters read all volumes of Dickens and both remember that every Christmas Day they found stacks of books under the Christmas tree. Their mother played the piano and their ¬father the violin. According to the older daughter, he more or less "fiddled", and with much enthusiasm. From one of his many trips to New York he brought back an Aeolian Piano Player which needed to pumped with the feet. Both daughters recalled the times when they had to stand at the piano and pump and pump, listening to Caruso, Melba or Schaljapin and other operatic records. Capt. Kidd loved classical music and made a special point to expose his family to it. Some senior residences of Ruston may still remember the Opera House in Ruston. It was located between the site of the fire station and the railroad bridge and was as close to being a real opera house as a mouse to an elephant. Traveling companies who stayed here for a week gave performances of a variety of entertainment. Mrs. Dorothy Sholars remembered the time when she was a little girl and appeared as a flower in some kind of play. Sharing the Kidd household for several years was a black girl named Anna Roberta Clara Geneva (Sis) Hicks, also known as Bert. Her mother was a cook in the home of Dr. Harrell and was seriously ill. Shortly before she died she gave her children to different homes for them to stay. Mrs. Kidd built a little room in the home where Bert could stay. She lived with the family until she married in her late teens. Bert imitated everybody in the family. She played the piano by ear "And she played better than 1 did, which made me furious," Mrs. Sholars recalled. Mrs. Margery Nicol remembered that Bert once told her "You too big for drinking milk out of bottle." Mrs. Margery admits she was too old for it, but she liked lt. How did they light the home in those early years? Both daughters recall that they used kerosene lamps and then switched to electricity as soon as it was introduced to Ruston. First the floor of the very high rooms were large hardwood planks, but later covered with narrow floor covering, according to the style of that time. They always had dogs around the house, hunting dogs, since their father like to go hunting. Even the daughters went quail hunting. They never locked the front door of the house, "Nobody ever did have a key to the house," Mrs. Sholars and Mrs. Nicol told the Leader. Both daughters attended the Louisiana Industrial Institute. Mrs. Sholars went on the Shorter in Rome, Ga. And Newcomb in New Orleans. Mrs. Nicol went to Newcomb after attending L I I. Mrs. Glenn Laskey was a student at Newcomb at the same time, but later transferred to SMU. When the telephone came to Ruston the Kidd Insurance Agency was privileged to have No. 1 and the family residence No. 4. Mrs. Sholars was away when their mother became seriously ill and died in 1920. In 1921 Capt. Kidd sold the house to the R. W. Davis family and an era ended. Mrs. Nicol said she hardly ever set foot for sentimental reasons. Additional Comments: Article interviewing the two ladies that were raised in the current Lincoln Parish Museum Building: Dorothy Kidd Sholars & Margery Kidd Nicol. Will also submit 4 jpg pictures from article. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/lincoln/newspapers/memories58gnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/lafiles/ File size: 10.2 Kb