Hopkins Co. Tx - Eli Hargrave visits Aunt Mollie Barclay From: June E. Tuck ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** From the historical files of June E. Tuck, who does not validate or dispute any historical facts in the article ELI HARGRAVE VISITS AUNT MOLLIE BARCLAY Daily News-Telegram, March 1939 Well, we paid her a visit yesterday, and strange to say, she seemed to be glad that we came, and we are always proud to have the privilege and pleasure of spending a while in her home on Church Street, where we find her happily domiciled in her warm and comfortable corner in company with her two faithful daughters, Miss Mattie and Miss Katherine, who are always diligent and dutiful in their affairs and especially the looking after and caring for the good mother, who for so many years attended the needs and necessaries of their lives till the time came for the order to be reversed, and for the girls to get on the other side of the table. We find them very diligent and industrious, as we have always found the mother, Aunt Mollie, at least since 1876 when we first knew her. At this time (1876) she was laboring as a faithful housewife with a husband and five children to look after, four stepchildren and one of her own - and right here I wish to say that she made one of the best step-mothers the Lord ever ordered, for if there was ever a God-sent step-mother, she was one of them. She lived in the rural districts where they often came home late on Sunday from church and often with friends for company to dinner, when they would have to get out and wring the necks of three or four frying chickens, bake three dozen biscuits and a pie or two and then after it was served, the dishes must be washed and the kitchen "cleaned up," by the women of course, while the men occupied the front porch of a double log house, chewing and smoking tobacco. Now Aunt Mollie knows about all of this for she has had the experience. She didn^Òt mind it; she did it in good grace and with eternal patience. And she^Òs worked till this day. She^Òs like we heard of one boy in this town, she hunted for work. But not like us young sprouts of today, we don^Òt want to work and are not going to do a frazzlin^Ò thing, many of us, just so long as our indulgent parents will do it for us. But she enjoyed it and enjoys it yet and her almost helpless and nearly lost her eyesight, tho she still does her best, pieced quilts so long as she could see, and crocheted little mats and made many little memory gems for others. They were all for someone else. Some of her handiwork is to be seen in our home where it will be highly prized to her memory so long as the home endures. She is a wonderful soul and we all love and adore her. She was born Mary Elizabeth Hartsfield, Sept. 7, 1850, in Gipson (Gibson?)County, West Tennessee, daughter of John and Martha Simmons Hartsfield, he of West Tennessee and she of Alabama. Aunt Mollie was sister to John Jr. and Sim Hartsfield and Mrs. George (Butler) Hargrave, all deceased. She is first cousin to W. C. Veazy of Dike. Nearly 83 years old. She was first married to T. A. Thornton in 1868, in West Tennessee. One child,, Agnes, came Feb. 4, 1869. First wife of Hubert Higdon and mother of Mrs. Grady Ardis. After the death of Mr. Thornton (born May 15, 1845) the mother and child came to Texas in 1875, with her parents and located near Birthright. They had been fast friends to the Birthright family in Tennessee, so they soon became their neighbors in Texas. On May 18, 1876, Aunt Mollie became the wife of my mother^Òs uncle, Joseph Hugh Barclay, born in Missouri, Feb. 1, 1836. Came to Texas in 1845. At this juncture she became stepmother to four children, Jennie Shanklin, stepdaughter to Uncle Joe, by a former marriage; Ida, Stephen and Walter (Tumj) his children by Jennie^Òs mother, Aunt Sallie Ross Shanklin, a teacher and a noble character. At this marriage is where we became acquainted with Aunt Mollie, me a lad of seven, she a household mother of 25 summers. For a number of years they were close neighbors to my father^Òs family and from that time on she has been our good friend and highly esteemed auntie. Her family has been a source of great pleasure to us and we hope she may be spared many more happy days. She is well past 88 and still fairly active in mind, tho feeble in body. Uncle Joe went March 31, 1909. She has outstripped all other members of her family and out-lived her allotted time, but we hope we may still have her that we may enjoy her kind words and her pleasant smile and she be able to enjoy her many friends. At her home we found another pioneer friend and old time neighbor, Mrs. Harriett Bear Martin, widow of the late Crawford Martin of Birthright, victim of the Birthright cyclone in 1907. She is confined to her bed with a broken hip and under the care of Miss Mattie Barclay. She is a member of a pioneer family of this county and has eaten many fat squirrels and deer hams at feasts at her father^Òs home at an early day. She was born in 1856, daughter of Mr. & Mrs. James Cates and sister to our old friend and neighbor, Sam Cates, of Birthright. By the way Sam past his 85th birthday last December the 17th and is still riding horseback and occasionally kills a squirrel in Morgan Creek bottom. Long live Sam and his good sister, Mrs. Harriett Martin. Aunt Mollie will be remembered as the mother of Mrs. Arch Tedford, Mrs Jimmie Sickles, and the late Simmy Dial Barclay, first husband of Miss Mattie Canady, now the wife of George Conner. She is also the auntie and step-grandmother of Jno. Hartsfield, Mrs. W. P. Chandler and others. Aunt Mollie always enjoys her friends and her snuff-box. Her nephew, Eli Hargrave