WATERMELON FARMING STORIES - PART 1

I LOVE WATERMELONS!

This is the beginning of a series of stories about the venture into raising watermelons for the wholesale market by the Colvin and Jones families of Unionville, Louisiana.  I was between ten and fifteen years old when my father and grandfather tried their hand at raising watermelons as a farm crop.  There are many memories of the successes and struggles that my families encountered as they strived to make a living from the fertile farmland of North Louisiana.

Let us begin with some history of the events leading up to our family living in Unionville.  My father was raised in Junction City, Arkansas and my mother was raised in Unionville, Louisiana.  Shortly after graduation from college, they married and set up household in Linville, Louisiana.  My father took the position of Principal/Coach of Linville School and my mother, who had been a school teacher for several years in Homer, Louisiana retired from teaching.

During the next few years three children were born into this family;  myself, my brother Richard and sister Penelope.  Sometimes in life, events happen that change the course of the remainder of the life of a family.  During the summer of 1949, I came down with the dreaded disease of polio and had to spend three months in the Charity Hospital in New Orleans.  My father resigned as Principal of Linville School and moved to New Orleans to be near me while my mother and siblings moved to Unionville to live with her parents.  After I was discharged from the hospital, my father resigned from his position at Linville school and we joined the rest of our family at Unionville.  Once settled in Unionville my father went into partnership with my grandfather in his grocery store/gas station.

My grandfather had been operating the store for years and also had a successful small farming operation raising cotton, corn and watermelons.  With the increase in the number of people that the store had to support, it was necessary to expand the farming operation to raise the needed income.  During that era, watermelons were a money making crop, so my father decided to try his hand at raising watermelons on a larger scale.

To be continued……..

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

The post for today is a memorial for my father, James Garland Jones, Sr.  My father was born in 1911 in Junction City, Louisiana and passed away in 1974 at our family store in Unionville, Louisiana.  The picture on the left is me and my father on the front porch of my Jones grandparent's house in Junction City and the one on the right is my father and sister in the store in Unionville, Louisiana.

I am thankful for a caring father that loved his family and worked hard all of his life to provide for them.  He worked hard to make the store a success, but always had time for his family.  Because of his efforts he provided the beliefs and foundation that have enabled me and my siblings to have a successful life and families of our own that we can love just as he did.  God bless you Daddy.

FARM TRACTORS

 A Tractor for Caden

These pictures are of me and my father on the old farm tractor that he and my grandfather used for farming.  When I look at these pictures it brings back memories for my early childhood of seeing the tractor being used to plow the fields.  The engine of the tractor made a distinct powerful sound as it pulled the plows that prepared the soil for the planting of the next crops.  As the disc plow began to break the fertile ground you could begin to smell the pungent aroma  of the rich earth. Farming in those days was a profitable occupation and my father and grandfather had many years of abundant crops of cotton, corn, purple hull peas, cantaloupes, and watermelons.

I seem to be having a great time being on the tractor with my father and pretending to drive it by myself.  I have heard that we inherit genes from our ancestors that gives us likes and dislikes in our lives.  I think that my great grandson, Caden surely inherited this gene that gave him a fondness for tractors. The next two pictures show him with me and with my son, his grandfather, on my lawn tractor.  Every time he comes over to our house the first thing that he wants to do is to go sit on the tractor and pretend that he is driving it.

For Caden's second birthday we found this tractor and knew that it was the perfect birthday present.  As you can see from the  picture, he certainly enjoys "my tractor" when he comes to visit us.

These are the memories that we make that make life enjoyable.

UNIONVILLE ALLIGATOR

THE UNIONVILLE ALLIGATOR

I have been relaxing and watching Lake Placid on the Sci-Fi channel this lazy Saturday afternoon.  Watching the giant crocodiles on this movie reminded me of the Unionville alligator.  It was a warm summer afternoon when someone stopped by the store and said that they had seen an alligator crossing the road and headed for Rome's Pond.  This was a small pond behind the home of Rome and Rosa Colvin's home where I spent many hours fishing for bream and bass.

It took me very little time to load my 22 automatic rifle and head out to the pond with many of the other citizens of Unionville.  When I arrived at Rome and Rosa's house the yard was full of vehicles.  It seemed that most of Unionville had heard about the alligator and had come to take a part in the hunt.  When I got down to the pond, I found that the alligator had been shot several times and was in shallow water at the upper end of the pond.  One of the brave hunters, S J Barmore, decided he would venture into the water, grab the alligator by the tail and drag him to dry land.  When he grabbed the alligator's tail the gator swung his head around and barely missed catching S J between his mighty jaws.  Someone then got a rope and was able to lasso the alligator's tail and along with several other people was able to drag him out of the water onto dry land.  We then shot him in the head several times, loaded him into the back of a pick-up and took him to the store to display for the community.

As you can see from the picture above the alligator was large, about five feet long.  This was one of the biggest events that ever happened in the small community of Unionville, and I never felt comfortable fishing on Rome's pond after the great alligator hunt.

SPOOL FURNITURE

HOW MANY PEOPLE REMEMBER SPOOL FURNITURE?

This picture shows my younger brother, Richard, and me enjoying some time outside on a warm summer afternoon.  Pictures such a these bring back pleasant memories of our youth that we have forgotten about.  Sometimes, if we study these pictures in detail, we will see items that give a special meaning to us about the picture.  In this picture, notice the table and chairs that my brother and I are using.  These pieces of furniture were known as spool furniture and were just two of the many pieces of this furniture at my maternal grandparents house in Unionville.

Spool furniture was constructed using simple basic materials: empty wooden sewing thread spools, wood, nails, all thread metal rods, washers and nuts.  During the years after WWII, times were hard and people were very frugal and used materials similar to how we recycle today.

My grandparents constructed this furniture from materials that they found around their house and store in Unionville.  The wooden spools came from the many spools of thread that my grandmother, Dell, emptied while sewing clothes for the family.  The wood that was used in constructing this furniture probably came from the wooden crates used for shipment of fruits and vegetables for the store.  (Side thought - My grandfather, Tut, carved out some of the coolest slingshots from the end pieces to these crates)  The rest of the material used for the furniture was found in the store stock.

Some years before my grandparents house was sold and torn down, I was exploring the root cellar underneath the back bedroom and rescued the only two pieces of spool furniture that were remaining.
Below are pictures of these that I have rebuilt to be as near to the original construction as possible.

We use these two corner tables on our back patio and I always enjoy telling the story of how I rescued them from being thrown in the trash.  They bring back memories of my growing up in Unionville and I hope that some of my descendants will appreciate them in the same way that I do.

A VISIT BACK TO UNIONVILLE

My daughter, Lynne, and I made a day trip back to the Unionville area this last week.  The purpose of the trip was to visit several of the cemeteries in the area where our Colvin ancestors are buried and get record photos of tombstones for our research.  Lynne has become addicted to family history research just like her mother and father.  We are so thankful.  Now my wife and I will know that there will be someone to take care of all of our research and it will not be thrown out as happens so many times.

We visited four cemeteries: Old Colvin Cemetery, Thomas R. Colvin Cemetery, Colvin-Barmore Cemetery and Unionville Cemetery.  The first four were small cemeteries and we got photographs of all of the tombstones in these.  The Unionville Cemetery is quite large and I have many photos that I have taken there before, so we just tried to fill in the missing ones.  Only one more cemetery that we need to visit, the Katy Cemetery.  We will have to make that another day.  This cemetery is off the main road and quite a hike for an old man.

We went by our old Colvin and Jones store for a visit.  The above picture is the way it looks now - many memories in that place.  Mr brother Richard has cleaned around and inside the store and opens it up on most Saturday mornings in the summer for the eldery men that grew up around Unionville to gather, drink coffee, and reminisce about the good ole days.  I made a trip over one Saturday last year and really enjoyed visiting and talking with people that I went to school with and knew when I was growing up.

Whenever I visit Unionville, I get nostalgic and begin to think how different life was back in that time.  Many of the things that we experienced our children will never get to enjoy.  Later, we stopped at a service station in Dubach to get some nurishment to keep up our strength.  As I browsed the shelf looking for something to snack on, I ran across a "Stage Plank".  How many remember "Stage Planks" and "ROC Royal Crown Colas".

As we were getting back in the vehicle, my daughter asked me what I got to snack on.  When I replied a stage plank, she had no idea what I was talking about.  Our young people today are missing out on some of the better things of life.  By the way, they did not have a "Power House Candy Bar" so I had to settle for a Snickers.

Family History Research is Fun!!!!

Happy Ancestor Hunting.

COLVIN AND JONES STORE

This is a picture of the inside of my family's country grocery store/service station in the late 1950s.  The store name was "Colvin & Jones" and was a successful business venture that provided a living for the Jones and Colvin families for many years.  It was a ten hour six and one half day a week operation with only a part of the day off on Sunday to attend Sunday School and Church.  During the summer months we would usually close on Wednesday afternoon and take time off for some family time.

The individuals in the picture are my father,James Garland Jones, Sr; my mother Ruth Colvin Jones and the super cool young man in the center which happens to be me.  Notice that I was dressed in what would be considered very hip in those days.  With my FFA jacket, white tee shirt, rolled up blue jeans, white socks and black loafers, I was a real lady killer.  Probably hidden under the jacket was a thin white belt which was a mainstay of my wardrobe.  The store was a family project and we all chipped in to help to make the store a success.

Some of the interesting things that can be noted about the store in this picture are:  All of the electricity comes from drop cords and plenty of extension cords; By this time we had gone modern and had shopping carts; Grey Crickets for sale in the back room; We gave Delta Trading stamps with purchases (sign behind my father); the large amount of lard in buckets - we must have had a sale on lard that week.

I have so many interesting stories and memories to share about the store and will be doing so in the next coming weeks, so keep checking back.

SHOWTIME IN UNIONVILLE

How many people remember the movie theater in their home town during their younger days?  The photo above is a picture of the movie theater in Dubach taken in 2010.  Some of the old movie billboards from the 1960's were still on display at that time.  During the time that I was in High School and College the theater was owned and operated by the Fontenot family.

Dubach was about two miles from Unionville and on Saturday afternoons I would catch a ride to Dubach in front of my family's store for the Saturday afternoon matinees.  Yes, I did say "catch a ride" as in hitchhiking.  It was actually safe in those days to do this.  The movie was usually an old style western with Roy and Dale, Gene Autrey, Gabby Hayes, Tom Mix, Lone Ranger, Rex Allen or Smiley Burnette, followed by a short serial that was continued from week to week.  I usually was able to talk my father out of a little more than the movie admission price so that I could enjoy a coke along with a Snicker's candy bar or a peanut patty along with the movie.

One of the biggest events to come to the Unionville/Dubach area was a visit to the Gem Theater by the movie cowboy Lash LaRue and his famous bullwhip.  The theater was packed that Saturday afternoon as he showed his skills with the bullwhip.  The most impressive trick to me was using his whip to put out a burning match that someone was holding in their hand.  Lash LaRue grew up in Shreveport and was a born-again Christian who was baptized at Shreveport Baptist Tabernacle by pastor Jimmy G. Tharpe.

Later on in my youth I enjoyed many Friday and Saturday night dates with my wife to be, Esther, at the Gem theater in Dubach.

Until next time - have a great day.

TELEVISION COMES TO UNIONVILLE!

                       TYPICAL FAMILY GATHERING AROUND TV                      

REMEMBER THE OLD BLACK AND WHITE TEST PATTERNS   

The miracle of television came to Unionville, Louisiana sometime in the early 1950’s when our family bought our first television.  The television was a RCA black and white (color tv did not exist in those days) television housed in a cabinet that stood on four spindly legs.  Remember the old black and white test patterns that we would stare at for hours?  There was no remote in those days so the channel selector was mechanical operated by a large knob.  The fact that there was no remote did not make much difference since there were only two channels we could pick up and one of those had good reception only on good weather days.

The two channels that we could pick up were KNOE, channel 8, in Monroe and KSLA, channel 12 in Shreveport.  When we needed to change channels we not only need to change the channel selector knob, but we also needed to go outside to the corner of the front porch and rotate the television antenna to point in the proper direction.  When we moved into our new home in 1955 we had a great improvement.  The antenna was located in a position higher on the roof and a remote allowed us to rotate the antenna from the comfort of our living room.  Once we had fine-tuned the antenna to show the best picture, we then had to start adjusting the many knobs on the television to sharpen the picture.  Many times the best picture that we could get was one that looked like faint, shadowy figures moving in a giant snowstorm.  No matter how bad the picture was, we still thought that television was one of the greatest inventions of humankind.

This new television was located in the corner of the bedroom next to the kitchen.  This became our family gathering place after supper and with the procurement of “tv” trays we usually ate supper in front of the television each night.  Some of our favorite family shows were Gunsmoke, The Honeymooners, Father Knows Best, Amos ‘n’ Andy, You Bet Your Life, I love Lucy, Have Gun – Will Travel, Dragnet, Jack Benny, The $64,000 Question, The Hit Parade, Bonaza, Combat, Jackie Gleason, The Ed Sullivan Show, Howdy Doody Show, I Led Three Lives, The Life of Riley, I’v Got a Secret, Red Skelton Show, The Millionaire, What’s My Line, and Topper.  The men folk’s favorite television program were the “Friday night fights”, which the women usually left with us men.

My personal favorite shows were Captain Video and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.  Each weekday Captain Video and his Video Rangers would begin with an introduction I remember to this day:   “Captain Video! Master of space! Hero of science! Captain of the Video Rangers! Operating from his secret mountain headquarters on the planet Earth, Captain Video rallies men of good will everywhere. As he rockets from planet to planet, let us follow the champion of justice, truth, and freedom throughout the universe!”  Captain Video aired at 6:00 pm Monday through Saturday and I would never let any of my activities interfere with watching the show.  I was even a proud owner of a “Captain Video Secret Decoder Ring”.  Google “Captain Video” to see more information and watch some of the old shows online.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents aired each Sunday night at 8:30 from 1955-1960 and Tuesday nights at 7:30 from 1960-1965.  This was also a show that I tried to never miss.  My most memorial episode was shortly after Esther and I were married.  After a rather intense thirty minutes with Alfred I decided to retire for the night.  As I walked into our bedroom, my new wife was hiding behind the door and stepped out and simply said “Boo”.  For a minute the whole world blacked out and I thought that I was going to pass out.

Ya'll come back to see us.