TX BIOS:  Stewart
   Selected and converted.American Memory, Library of Congress.
   
   Washington, 1994.
   
   Preceding element provides place and date of transcription only.
   
   This transcription intended to be 99.95% accurate.
   
   For more information about this text and this American Memory
   collection, refer to accompanying matter.
   
   U.S. Work Projects Administration, Federal Writers' Project (Folklore
   Project, Life Histories, 1936-39); Manuscript Division, Library of
   Congress.Copyright status not determined.
   
   00011
   
   Life History
   
   [Williams E. Smith?]
   
   [?] City Guide
   
   [Pioneer Resident.?]
   
   [Writers' Project?]
   
   [District #6?]
   
   [? Texas] [Civil?] [War?] & [work in an orphanage?]
   
   [?]
   
   Nov [23?] 1938
   
   [?]
   
   [Life story of?]
   
   [???, STATE ORPHANS HOME.?]
   
   "I was born [September 27,?] [?], [in ???], [?], [??] [won't be long
   until?] my [90th, birthday?]. Mr. [O'daniel?] [??] dinner with me [?]
   my 100th. birthday, and [we?] will have [???], [and I only live to see
   that day?].
   
   "There were eight of us children and a happy hard working group we
   were too. I [can?] [remember?] [the Civil War vividly?], [more so than
   I can remember?] things that happened only a few?] [days age. The day
   we heard?] [??] was elected president, [I throwed my bonnet in the
   air?] [and hollered 'Hurrah.' There won't be?] [?] [president like
   George Washington and Abe Lincoln?]. [We were on the northern side but
   there was people who lived close to us that owned slaves?]. [Some were
   good to them and some treated them awful. I remember one man that
   owned salves?], [told an old negro man if he would pick so many pounds
   of cotton one day he would give him a?] [dollar. I don't remember how
   much it was, but it was a pretty good amount. Well the old negro?]
   [worked very hard and picked a few pounds over the?] [??], [and the
   white man?] [?] [only would'nt?] [give him his dollar but told him?]
   [??????] [every day. I have seen negro?] [women put on a block and
   sold away from their children. A good negro woman brought lots of?]
   [money in them days?].
   
   "[One day we were close to?] [??], [about 12 miles I think. We could
   hear the?] [little guns, they were just pop, pop, pop, just like?]
   [?], [and?] [??] [in?] [?] [the?] [?] [of the?] [?]." [??] [free?]
   [??????] [days. "Them were?] [terrible times, all the man and boys
   that were large enough to were called into service, and it?] [was
   surly hard on we womenfolks?]. Theives would come [around?] [??]
   everything they wanted. One time they came and took all our bedding,
   and even tore up the floor to see if we had [anything?] hid under the
   floor. They cut one old mans ears off, that lived near us, and another
   [old gentleman that lived close by, the made?] [?] [get down on his
   hands an knees and?] [spurred?] him just like a horse. Those were
   terrible days. We had another [neighbor?] [that had three boys?] that
   were too small to go to war, the rebels came and shot them down like
   dogs just because 00022they were too young to fight?]. [I?] went to
   their funeral, on of the saddest funerals I ever attended. Those boy's
   little sister just went from one coffin to another [?] [again I say
   those?] [were terrible days?].
   
   "[My brother was captured in the battle of Corinth, he was fighting on
   the northern?] [side and when he was captured on the southern side he
   was place in a prison in Virginia, and?] [he starved to death there.
   The northers?] [?] [would send food through to be fed to the
   northern?] [men in the prisons, but they never did get any of it. He
   lived in the prison until the?] [war ended and my father went to get
   him, but he was in such a [weakened?] [condition that lived?] [only a
   few months?].
   
   "[The war left us with?] [??,??] [father decided to move to Texas.
   He?] [had a brother in Arkansas?], [so we?] [stopped over there and
   stayed two years?]. [We?] [made the by?] [train and when we left
   Arkansas?] [??] [to Texas?], [??] [to?] [?] [about 52 or 53 years?]
   [ago?].
   
   "[?] [looked quite diffenent them, not a single sidewalk, now even a
   board?] [walk. There were no?] [?] [here at all, when we went to
   church it was in the old Opera?] [house?].
   
   "[?] [went to a fair of some kind right after we came here, and then
   we met Judge?] [Stout. We rented a place from him. I do not remember
   anything about the fair, but it must?] [have been the first fair after
   the war?].
   
   "[I never went anywhere much and I can't tell you very much of early
   happenings?]. [I always had work to do, and I never ran around any. I
   have?] [?] [all my life and I never?] [have had a vacation?]
   
   "[The Orphans Home was built?] [???????]. [I saw the land?] [broke and
   made ready for the?] [first two buildings?] [I said that as the
   buildings were?] [finished I was going to try and get a job?], [But I
   didn't have do do that as they sent for me?]. [I want to work before
   there was a?] [????] [the superintendent and his wife?]. [I began
   doing the cooking, washing and cleaning. "First I was cook, then I was
   teacher, and 00033later a nurse- and some of the time I was all three.
   "We didn't have much help in those days?]." [We had only two
   buildings, one was for classrooms and the other was a doradtory. They
   were?] [brick and were set out in a field that could get very muddy
   with the least bit of rain. There?] [was no modern conveniences like
   they have now, no running water or steam heat?].
   
   [The first two orphans to be provided for by the State of Texas came
   to her in 1880?]. [The first child was Jim McDonald, the second was
   George Elliott. Jim was adopted by a family?] from [Maladoff?]. [He?]
   is an old man now with grandchildren, but he hadn't forgotten me as he
   came to see me the other day and brought me a bucket of honey. Bless
   their hearts! I have children all over Texas. I got Mothers Day,
   Christmas, and Birthday cards from everywhere. I treasure each one of
   them. They were all my kids, and I love them all, I [never?] [did?]
   [mistreat?] any of them, I was the only mother they know and?]
   [?????]. [??] [came to?] [me when they were hurt or in trouble?],
   [although?] [???] [I only had?] [charge?] of the little ones. When [?]
   first went to work [???] [me a group of little?] [children to take
   care of as soon as there was enough children, and he did this too?].
   
   [The most trying days were during the epidemic. "It was measles and
   mumps and mumps?] and measles, but I was prepared as I had everything
   that could be caught when I was a child in Tennessee. I had to sleep
   in the room with the children as some of them were continually having
   measles,mumps, whooping cough and such things. Once when so many were
   having whooping cough, I had to pick up the little ones and put them
   in the bed with me so [I?] could raise they up when they started
   coughing so they would not strangle.
   
   "I bathed the children twice a week, we didn't have?] [?] [in those
   days and bath?] [water came up on the end of a rope. When the bath tub
   is a number three laundry tub, well?], [it wasn't very pleasant. Later
   the?] [?] [had a?] [?], and still later an?] [?] well. I [didn't trust
   the children to get clean, I bathed each one myself, and it was a good
   half-days?] [work- by the time I got the last on bathed the first ones
   would all be dirty again. [Oh! it?] was hard work, but I enjoyed every
   minute of it. [??????] [four o'clock and?] had breakfast by six for
   eighty-five children, Don't as me how I got biscuits baked, I just
   don't know. I often think about how much work I had to do all by
   myself and wonder how I ever did get through, but I managed to some
   way. Some had to have breakfast from a bottle 00044[and some had to be
   fed with a spoon. I had big wood cookstove to do all the cooking on?].
   [?] [had to draw every drop of water that we used, and that was no
   joke either. Today they have?] [modern gas stoves, water in the
   kitchen, and all the conveniences that makes it easier taking?] [care
   of big bunch?].
   
   "[Some of the children would cry when they were left there, but they
   soon get use to?] [playing with the other childrens. There was one
   little girl four years old that lived in the?] [home. Her mother was
   living and would often come to spend the day with her. One day she
   came?] [for the day and after dinner the mother came to me and said,
   "Miss Nan, do you know what Martha?] [said to me a minute ago? She
   said she wished I would go home, so she could go out to play with?]
   [the rest of the kids?] [?] [you see the children soon got?] [?] [away
   from the outside?].
   
   "[One day a man and woman came?] [????????] [stated before?] he was
   the first child to come the home. He was four years old then and I
   adored him. I trimmed his hair and cleaned him up and got him all
   ready and he turned to me and said, 'I don't want to go, I loves you
   and I want to stay here with you.' I told him he would have lots of
   little pigs, calves and chickens and things that he could play with.
   As I said he is now a grandfather and still lives in [?]."
   
   There was a baby nine months old brought there, him name was Herman
   Miles. I tended [to him all the [DEL: ime :DEL] time and he was a very
   sweet child. I took care of him until he was large enough to go to the
   boy's ward, and later he was adopted. I never knew exactly what became
   of him, so not long ago a big car stopped at the curb, and a man came
   to the door and knocked. I went to the door and there stood a big man,
   well dressed who asked me if I knew him, and I told him no. I didn't
   think that I did, and he asked me if I remembered Herman Miles. Well,
   I was so happy that [I?] just threw my arms around his neck. He is a
   banker in Tyler and he and his wife and children visit me often.
   
   [My father was ill one time and?] [??????], [and while I was?] away
   from the home, a baby boy had been left there by on of the [???] from
   Dallas, the [?] that operate the big department store. [??] that
   [worked?] in their home had died and left this baby so they brought
   him to the Orphans Home. When I returned to work the baby cried after
   me 00055and I took extra care of him. When he was large enough to work
   he followed me everywhere. [I?] finally had to quit work, as my
   father's [??????] [decided to take him home with?] me to raise. His
   name was Willis [??????] [a better boy. I sent him to school?] and as
   soon as he was large enough he began to work and help me. I made one
   big mistake, I never did adopt him legally, and he passed away
   suddenly when he was 30 years old, he left [$1000?]. in the bank, but
   the state took that and I only had his insurance policy. When he died
   all the happiness I ever had in my life went with him, never was there
   a better son than he, and my life has been very sad since his going.
   
   I worked in the home for 30 years. The last few years I had a little
   cottage all to myself and it was very comfortable and nice. But my
   father's health get so bad that I had to come home to take care of
   him. He has passed away and I am the only one left, I have my little
   home here [I?] bought 30 years ago.
   
   On the 11th of October this year [?] [Lee O'Daniel addressed the Dirt
   Farmers of?] [?] county. On Sunday October 9th, I made the remark to a
   friend. 'That if I was able to walk, I would station myself in the
   Navarro [?????] O'Daniel to come in, I wanted to see him just one
   time.'
   
   So the day he made [?????????] [and the?] Superintendent told him I
   was the first person to work there and Mr. O'Daniel took the time out
   to come by to see me. When I went to the door all he said was, 'Miss
   Nan, I am W. Lee O'Daniel.' That was the biggest thrill of my life. I
   led him back into my bedroom, and showed him his picture and asked him
   if he knew that man. He pointed to a collar on the shirt of this
   boyhead picture, and said he could remember well, the day his mother
   pinned that on his shirt. He told me he heard that I made the first
   biscuits that was made in the home, he said he knew that the biscuits
   were good, but he was sorry that I didn't have Hill Billy flour
   because he knew they would have been much better. He had a nice talk
   and I enjoyed it very much. I have met several Governors while at the
   home, but meeting O'Daniel was the grandest thrill of all. 00066I get
   up every morning at 6 o'clock to hear the news. Of all the modern
   things we have I like the radio best. I listen to all the news and to
   all the W. Lee O'Daniel programs. I think he is a man sent from God to
   lead Texas out of the situation it is now in. I like to hear good
   sermons and good singing, especially the [?] program. I don't care for
   the love plays, they don't interest me at all. On Sunday not ago I was
   here all alone and was very lonesome, so I turned on the radio and as
   the program came on the air, a man was singing 'God Will Take Care of
   You.' It just seemed it was meant exactly for me. I knowGod has
   blessed me all these years. I have never been sick in bed a week in my
   life have never gone to a picture show and have no disire to. I do my
   little housework and that takes up the mornings, and after dinner I
   always lay down to rest awhile. My life has been spent in service for
   other and never has anyone asked me for a favor, that I was able to
   give then that it wasn't granted, and I always did it willingly. So
   all my 90 years have been happy ones.
   
   End.

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