Sewed up in a bed sheet. My grandma Taylor told my Uncle Floyd to do some chore,

When he did not do the chore she got a switch and was going to give him a good thrashing. He was about 16 years at the time and believed that he was too old to be whipped. He took the switch away from grandma and broke it up. She walked away. That night when Uncle Floyd went to sleep my grandma came into the bedroom and took the sheet he was laying on and folded it over and sewed him up into the sheet. She then took the new switch she had secured and proceeded to administer the punishment that she had been thwarted from doing.

Dividing the catch of the day at the local cemetery. Two men after a successful day of fishing were returning home and as they got to the local cemetery where the road forked they stopped to divide their catch. Because they were tired they went into the cemetery and sat on some large tombstones. As they walked into the cemetery one of the men dropped a couple of the fish by the gate as he entered. Two brothers were returning from a date and were walking by the cemetery. One was a cripple who walked with crutches. They stopped by the gate when they heard the voices. They could not make out the image of the speakers so they stood still. They heard the voice saying you, “You take this one and I’ll take this one.” I’ll take this one and you take that one.” The brother decided that God and Satan were dividing up the dead. The brothers keep listening until one of the fishermen remembered the two fish he had dropped near the gate. He then said, “You can have the two over there by the gate. The crippled brother said, “He may get you but he want get me and the crippled brother beat his brother home.

Going through a cemetery at night. A man out late one night decided to take a short cut through the local cemetery. Unbeknownst to him there had been a new grave dug in the cemetery and he fell into the grave. He tried to extract himself but the grave being deep and rather sandy soil he finally decided that he would wait until the next day and maybe someone would hear his call for help. He moved to one side and got as comfortable as possible, then went to sleep. It happened that another man decided to take the same short cut. He too fell into the grave and started trying to get out. This woke up the first man who had been asleep. The man who had been asleep said, “You can’t get out of here”, but the second man did.

Foot prints in the snow. One evening when my grandma Taylor was at home with her smaller children, grandpa was gone off on one of his many adventures, someone shot a gun and the bullet came into the house. Grandma grabbed a gun and went outside but the person had disappeared. There was snow on the ground so she followed his foot prints. They let to the school house where a revival meeting was in progress. She went into the service and interrupted the service and told the people that someone had shot into her house where she and her children were and she ask that they point out who had just entered in to the building. Not wanting to see a man shot in their church service they very logically refused to tell who had done such a cowardly thing.   

Bear in the house. Bears were a problem in the early days of the Boston Mountains. A certain family had killed a hog when the weather turned cold. They had cut up the meat and hung it in one of the spare rooms in the house. To inter the house you had to come into the front door as there was no other way into the house. In the early days they did not have hinges on the doors but used a system of removable doors. There were four hooks two on each side of the door. The door had 2 two by fours which went across the door and suck out on each side of the door about 8 inches. To open the door you simply lifted the door of the side hooks and set it aside. The bears had not yet hibernated for the year. The man had to go on a trip over night. This was the night when the bear came to visit. The bear simply put his snot under the door and lifted it and walked into the house went past the bed where the woman was laying and literally shaking with fear. The bear went into the spare room and toke a ham and went out with it. When the man returned he pitched a fit. “That meat is our winter supply for the winter and you let a bear take it.” He ranted and raved. A few nights later the bear remembering where he could get meat came back for more. The same scenario except the man was at home so when the bear came by the side of the bed the man pulled the cover over his head and let the bear have his meat.

Running from a panther. One evening a certain lady was going from her house to a neighbor house. The distance was several miles and this was in the times when panthers roamed the Boston Mountains of Arkansas. The lady was carrying her infant child. She encountered a panther and began to run from it. Of course she could not out run the animal but she would take of a piece of the child’s clothing and throw it down. The panther would stop and shred the clothing and take up her trail again. When she had striped the child she started shedding her clothes. When she arrived at her destination she arrived necked but alive. 

Don’t insult a preacher who has a mean son. This story also has to do with Al Starbuck. A man was mad at great grandpa Starbuck because of one of the sermons he preached about sin so he cursed great grandpa out publicly. Al was not present at the time but he met the man one day just as he was riding his horse across the Arkansas River. The story is that the man back his horse backward all the way across the river to escape.

            A knife in a grave. A group of young people were discussing about whether they would be afraid to visit a cemetery at night. One young lady avowed that she would not have any fear to do such a thing. They challenged her to prove it and gave her a knife to stick into a certain grave to prove that she had actually gone to the cemetery. She went to the cemetery and stuck the knife into the grave. It was in the days when girls wore long dresses so when she stooped down to stick the knife into the grave she accidental stuck it through her dress also. When she raised up the knife sticking through her dress gave a pull on her skirt. They found her there the next morning. The puling on her dress scared her so badly that she apparently died of a heart attack.  

            Murder at the Indian dance.  At the time of this story my great grandpa Starbuck was living in Missouri. His older son James Albert, who went by the name Al, was pretty wild young man. Maybe it was because his father was a preacher and he wanted to rebel as some preachers sons do. It happened that there was an Indian dance for young native people, but Al and some of his friends decided to crash the party. Later the party got rowdy and a fight broke out. In the mêlée that followed an Indian boy was killed. Al and his friends were charged with murder an went to trial. The Indian was killed by a rock. The defense for Al ask one of the Indian young men if he had thrown any rocks and he said that he had and hoped to God that it hit Al Starbuck in the head. This gave the opening for the defense to argue that if everyone was throwing rocks, there was no way to say that Al’s rock was the one who killed the boy. So Al was acquitted.

            Since the trail cost money great grandpa Starbuck had to sell his farm to come up with the money for paying for his son’s defense. Also, great grandpa being a preacher, and because of the notoriety of the event great grandpa thought it best to leave the area. The moved to Arkansas make it possible for my mother to meet my father. It is interesting how God takes tragedy and turns it into something for his glory.

            As a side note, one of Al’s friends told Al after the fight that that Indian would not have covered Al so fast if he could have got the rock out of his pocket faster. So it appears that Al’s friend may have been the one that killed the Indian. The fact that it was an Indian and not a white boy killed may mean that justice was not served. 

Stories told by my grandma Taylor

            The song that broke up a revival meeting. My great grandpa Daniel Starbuck was an itinerant preacher, which meant he had no church that he pastured but went about preaching at every opportunity. One thing he did was to hold revival meetings. One particular revival meeting was going real well with good attendance until my grandma and one of her sister sang a particular song. The words that I remember from the song were, “That shelf behind the door don’t use it anymore, but quickly clean the corner out from ceiling to the floor.” It was an attack on secret sins which people hid. It was not well received so the revival went downhill because people did not want to give up their sins.

            Stealing watermelons and slow horses. When my grandpa Lee Taylor was a boy he and some other boys slipped into someone’s watermelon patch to eat their fill of good watermelons. While there their horses begin to act up and trying to break loose. They ran to the horses and got on them. It was a panther that was hungry and wanted some horse meat.  They took off with the panther chasing them. The other boy’s horses were faster than my grandpa’s horse. The panther front claws would hit the rump of his horse and leave their mark with each leap. The panther chased him until he got home and the horse literally ran up on the porch of the house. I guess the moral of the story would be when stealing watermelons make sure your horse is faster than your friends.

Stories told by my mother about my early childhood

            After my birth they would take me to the field and put me on a pallet in the shade of a tree and my sister would have the task of looking after me while my mother and dad worked. She would have to look after my brother also who was 17 months older than me. So it was early in life that I learned to lay dawn in the shade while others worked.

            I was a compliant child according to my mother. I did not make demands but did as I was told. One day when she was going to a ladies bible study I ask to go with her. She told me I could not go because it was for ladies so I said to her, “Will you give me a drank of water then”, which she did.

            One year we went to Mississippi County to pick cotton. I was close to six years old at the time. I would go in front of my father and pick cotton and put in little piles for him to grab and put in his sack. When I would get tired of that I would take a bucket of water with a dipper and walk up and dawn the cotton rows and sell a drink of water for 1 cent. So I sold water before the bottle water becomes the fad.

Place of birth

            The town of Witts Springs was named for the man who found the spring which is the main branch of the middle fork of the Illinois Bayou. The spring is located behind the old rock school house which was the principal school building for the town of Witts Springs. I know nothing about Mr. Witt. I don’t know if he ever lived there or if he only used the place as a place to camp out. The only building that I have any knowledge that was at the spring was a canning factory. The canning factory was long gone during my years at Witts Springs. The building in bad repair was still standing when I began attending the rock school house which is located on the top of the ridge which separates the spring from the town of Witts Springs. Some time before I started high school the building was tore down or the wind blew in down. At least while I was in high school there was no trace of the building left on the propriety.

            Witts Springs at one time had several general stores, a U. S. Post Office, more than one lumber mill and a stave mill (staves were used to make oak barrels). By the time of my early childhood there was only one general store with a small room in the front right hand corner which housed the Post Office. The store was owned and operated by Thomas and Xula Johnson and Xula’s father John Loftin ran the Post Office. Mr. Loftin would look at me over the top of his glasses to see who I was when I ask for the mail. After her father died Xula and Thomas ran the Post Office and the store.

            The school at Witts Spring was from first grade through 12 grades. When I started to school all the classes were housed in the one rock building along with a basket ball gym. By the time I finished there was a separate cafeteria and another building that housed the grammar school and sometime after I graduated they build a separate gym. Today the school no longer in use and gym is used as a community center.

            The house where I was born was about 2 miles from the general store. It was a one room log building which was not very large. When I saw it last it was in serious disrepair and is now no longer standing. We left that dwelling while I was small so I have no memory of living there. The trees had just about completely taken the fields and turned it back into forest.

            All of my family worked on our farm. My folks would get up before daylight to begin their day. Mom would start breakfast and dad would go milk the cow and feed the animals. He would come back from his chores and help mom finish breakfast. When breakfast was ready they would wake up the children and we would eat. After breakfast dad and the children would leave to work in our crops and mother would clean up the kitchen then come to the field to help. She would leave early to fix diner (lunch) which was a substantial meal. Mom would clean up after diner and dad would take a twenty minute nap. Then it was back to work with the same scenario for the afternoon. When we came home for supper mom would have it ready and then it was chores. One of my chores was drying the dishes which my older sister washed.  

Mother and Father

            My father was William Franklyn Chadwick.  He went by the name Frank. He was 6 feet tall and weighed 178 for his peak weight. He was highly respected in the community of Witts Springs and the surrounding area. One man in our community who was a staunch Church of Christ member who said that only people who were members of the Church of Christ would go to heaven when they die was challenged by another man on his stand. The man said are you telling me that Frank Chadwick will not go to heaven. The Church of Christ man allowed as to how that might be some exceptions because he respected my father so much.My dad would play checkers with his dad and with my mom. He loved working more than playing.

            When he sold his farm and moved to California I got him a job at Trojan Battery Co. where I was working at the time.  He worked at various task there and was the shipping clerk for the company at the time of retirement. To beat the Los Angeles traffic he drove to work two hours early and spent the time studying his Bible. Reading was his favorite pastime. He had no hobbies that I know of. He did fish once in a blue moon but had no tackle. He used someone else’s tackle. In retirement he read and gardened. He was a farmer who loved the land. He loved growing things. During his retirement years he lived in the city and turned his back yard into a garden.

           

            My mother name was Clara May Taylor Chadwick. She and dad married when she was 13 years old. He was 9 years older than she. They first lived in a one room cabin with make do cast off. A stove that had bricks for one leg and their first mattress was stuffed with corn shucks. She had three kids by the time she was 18 years old. She gave birth to a total of 4 children, Charlotte Wanda Lucile Chadwick, William Leroy Chadwick, Alvin Kenneth Chadwick and Evelene Chadwick. She had been drug from pillar to post as a child. Her folks divorced when she was a small child. Then she suffered through two other marriages that broke up. Then she and her mother lived with first one of her older siblings then the other. She had a hard time believing that she was loved and needed a lot of attention. She was very smart and could look at a dress in a Sears or Wards catalog and make the dress for one of her girls. She could crochet, quilt and do almost anything with needle and thread.

Ancestors from England

My cousin Carl Taylor has written a book about the Taylor part of the family where he traces the Taylors and Starbucks back all the way back to England. Both families came to Nantucket Island and settled before coming to the main land. Anyone interested in this can read his book.

My grandpa Taylor was born out of wedlock. When his mother married she married a Drury. Her name was Jermima Taylor. I remember her well. When I was a boy she lived with my great uncle Audie Drury her second son. Many times after church my family would go to their farm for Sunday dinner (lunch). She did not get around very well so she used a cane with a crook. She had some bantam chickens and we would chase them to make her mad. If we got too close to her she would catch us around the neck with the crook of her cane and pull us up close to her and with her boney knuckles go over our head and really work us over. When she was on her death bed my mom and dad took their turn during the week going over to uncle Audie’s house to set up with her at night. We would be at home by ourselves and my dad would come home in time to make our breakfast and get us off to school. On the night she died when my dad started to leave uncle Audie’s house the cat had crawled up the screen door with its back to the house door. When dad open the door the cat squalled and slide down the screen door and my dad almost had a heart attack. You need to know that my father was afraid of dead people. He always said that if he had a flat tire on his car at night by a cemetery he would set in the car until daylight before he try to change the tire.

            My Grandma Taylor’s maiden name was Starbuck. Her dad was an itinerant preacher and had no affiliation with any denomination. Grandpa Daniel Starbuck and Grandma Sarah Gunter Starbuck died before I was born. Grandma Taylor married three times. All of her children were born of her first marriage.  Their names were Floyd, Loy, Lola, Viola, Gladys, Homer, Webby, who died as a baby, and Clara. I am not sure of the order of birth but Floyd was the oldest and Clara was the youngest.

            I do not know the names of her two other husbands except the last one was named Taylor also but no relation to the first husband. Her first husband was a drunk and a womanizer. Grandma told me that many nights she went to sleep with him standing over her bed cursing her. He would leave home and be gone for months at a time and come home and leave after she was pregnant. She finally divorced him when my mother was a small child. My grandmother’s name was Gertie Taylor. Her mother was Sarah Elizabeth Gunter Starbuck who died July 1, 1920. In Sarah’s obituary grandma Taylor’s name is listed as Gertie Roselia. My uncle Homer Taylor who died May 11, 1907 obituary listed his mother as Gertie Starbuck. Her grandchildren put the tombstone at her grave site without contacting my mother and they wrote her name as Gertrude. This upset my mother because she said her name was Gertie not Gertrude. Aunt Gladys confirmed what my mother said. All of the other children were dead at the time of the placing of the tombstone. I have Grandma’s Bible where she wrote the family names and she has her name as Girty. I lived with her during my high school years and we talked much about her family and her marriages. We talked about why she divorced her husband’s. She told me many stories but more on that later.

1. Birth Story - Continued

 

            My grandfather was William Lauther Chadwick. He was the one who baptized me. I loved to hear him preach. He was a member of the Missionary Baptist Church. He was a preacher by profession and a carpenter by trade, a bi-vocational pastor who pastored four churches at a time. He would preach one Sunday a month at each of the churches then when there was a fifth Sunday they would have what they called “A Fifth Sunday Meeting” where all four churches would come together for a big celebration. Fifth Sundays happen quarterly.

            My grandpa married Nora Crow and they had four children. My father William Franklyn Chadwick was the oldest then Lorenda Horton (Chadwick), James Chadwick and Alvie Chadwick. Alvie was a Baptist preacher. Grandma Nora died a few days after my birth. She had suffered much with rheumatoid arthritis. She had a skinny frame and her joints would swell up to very large size. Since arthritis is a collagen vascular disease she may have had lupus also. She came to see me right after I was born then returned home and went to her death bed. My story is that I was so ugly that I scared her to death. 

My mother was very sick at my birth and they were expecting her to die at any time so my father did not attend his mother’s funeral because he was staying by mother’s bed. This was in the mid 1930 so times were really bad. My mother being sick could not nurse me and we had no cow that was giving milk at the time. They had to ask for milk from other people as there were no stores that sold milk in the mountains where we lived. We would not have had money to buy milk at any rate. My grandma Taylor, mom’s mother, told me that when she arrived days after my birth that I was sucking on a bottle with soured milk. She went over to a cousin of hers, Verbie Crow, to ask for milk. Aunt Verbie told her that she did not have enough milk for her own family so could not spare any. My grandma went out to the well and drew the milk out of the well where it was kept to keep it cool and poured out the milk that I needed. She told aunt Verbie that she would be back tomorrow for her to have the milk ready. It was ready every day thereafter.  

I was related to Verbie on my mother’s side of the family. Her husband uncle Virgin was the only brother to my grandma Chadwick so I was related to them on my father’s side of the family. My uncle Virgin (Yes that was his name) was a blacksmith and a farmer. He could do amazing things with iron and steel. In his day if you need a tool you made it. So Blacksmiths were engineer and inventors also.

Birth Story

 

1. Birth Story

Ancestors from Kentucky

 

            The names of my great, great, great Grandfather and grandmother were Mathew and Charity King Chadwick. They lived in North Carolina. He was a Baptist Preacher. I do not know if they moved to Kentucky or not but I know that his son did. His son, my great, great grandfather John Lauther Chadwick was also a Baptist preacher. J. L. wife name was Mary Melvina Daniel Chadwick. He lived in Crittenden County in Kentucky on one of the few military roads though the state. During the War Between the States there was much activity in that particular area so he moved his family down into Central Tennessee where they lived for two years. They then moved back to their old home place in Kentucky and four years later they moved all their stuff in six ox carts into Fulton County Arkansas near the town of Salem. This was in the early summer of 1869.  They lived there 16 years. Afterward they moved to Searcy County in a small community named Oxley. Their graves are in the Oxley Community Cemetery.

            The names of my great grandfather and grandmother were John Franklin and Sara Young Chadwick he was also a Baptist preacher. He died before I was born but I remember meeting great grandmother when I was about 5 years old. She was staying with one of her children on a farm in the Oxley community. It was winter time and very cold. We were living on our farm in Witts Springs Arkansas. I think it was a holiday either Thanksgiving or Christmas. My dad and his siblings went to spend the holiday with their grandma. We went in a truck with wood sideboards with a tarp covering it. Because of the cold they heated rocks and wrapped them in quilts and put lose hay in the bed of the truck in order to keep all the kids warm. At this time I was the baby in the Chadwick family and great grandma Sera who was blind told my mother to bring me to her so she could see me. She felt all over my face and upper body. I was mortified having someone that I had never seen before running her hands all over my head, eyes, ears and mouth. Not a good experience for a shy country lad.

The meaning of the name Chadwick

English: habitational name from any of various places called Chadwick, In Merseyside (formerly in Lancashire), Warwickshire, and two in Worcestershire. One of the places in Worcestershire and the one in Warwickshire are named as “the dairy farm (Old English wic) of Ceadel.” The other in Worchestershire and the one in Merseyside are named as “Ceadda’s dairy farm”. Ceadda was the name of a famous Anglo-Saxon bishop, St. Chad.

[The Latin de means of. The Ceadda’s wic would be Ceadda’s dairy farm. If there was a man connected to the dairy named Bob he would be called Bob deCeaddawick except early English used y for I so it would be Bob deCeaddawyck (Bob of Ceadda’s dairy) so it easy to see how you could take the changed spelling of Ceadda to Chad and wic to wyck then combine the changed spelling to Chadwyck. Alvin Kenneth Chadwick’s Speculation]

 

My name is Alvin Kenneth Chadwick and this is my untold story.