1950s Dating in Sikeston, Missouri

Tom and me with Monoply Board

My freshman year at Sikeston High School I enjoyed playing trumpet in the band, marching in the band at football games and parades, being with my girlfriends in Red Peppers, participating in the National Forensic League (a speech and debating club), and a few more activities.  But most of all I enjoyed spending time with Tom Harmon.

I remember that each day after school he would be waiting for me by the Band Building.  He would carry part of my things and we would go to Wag's and get a Pepsi and Fifth Avenue candy bar.  On the way home, we would share the 12-ounce drink, in a bottle, and 3 ounce candy bar.   We stopped at Heath Street to go our separate ways.  We looked into each other’s eyes and hating parting.  We must have looked ridiculous to others.  We were very young, only 14 and 16 years old my Freshman year, and yet thinking we were grown-up.  Surprisingly, I am still with that skinny, pimple faced boy.  He is no longer skinny and has put on weight over the years.  His skin is now clear and he is a handsome man.

Tom had no car, so we walked places.  I know that seems odd today, but in the 1950s and early 1960s people in small towns often walked places.  Most families had only one car that they shared.  Dad always had the last word on who got to use the car at any given time.  Partly because we walked, everyone was thinner back then.  People never ate in their cars, they ate together at the kitchen or dining room table.  In general, everyone was more active, and kids played outside until their mothers called them in at evening time. 

There was not a lot to do in Sikeston without a car.  We went to the movies one a week and went out driving around with friends in their cars.   Tom came over to my house almost every night.  My parents were not fond of cards, so we played board games at my house, like Chinese Checkers or Monopoly.  Most evenings we walked out back and sit on the picnic table and talked.  When my Dad came out and coughed it was time to go back inside, and for Tom to go to his home.

My parents tried to interest me in other things so I didn't spend as much time with Tom but that rarely worked.  I do remember my going to Band Camp one summer at Southeast Missouri State in Cape Girardeau.  That was a lot of fun.  I made new friends and interacted with students who all enjoyed playing music.

Oh, if we only knew then, what we know now.  I realize now that our youth is a time to explore opportunities and broad friendships.  Had I not been wrapped up in Tom Harmon I might have had a much richer High School experience.  I have had a good life and would change only a few things.  I look forward to my class reunions and will be in Sikeston attending my 55^th SHS Class of 1962 reunion this September.  I realize how much I missed in school when I listen to friends fondly recall all they did in high school, without being focused on a single person.  Sadly, we can only give young people advice to enjoy their youth, each one has to experience it their way.  What is good for many, is not always good for others.  Those differences make life and people interesting.  I remember that walking home with Tom Harmon made me happy then, and I still enjoy walking beside him today.

Part 6 and Final Segment of Anna Eliza Blount

Part 6 of 6

Anna Eliza Blount Kline and Her Swamp Land Grant

I hope you have enjoyed learning about my great-grandmother Anna Eliza Kline.  She was an educated pioneer lady who enjoyed life to the best of her ability in the swamps of Southeast Missouri. 

In 1907, a group of men formed an organization called the Little River Drainage District to take on the swamp. They issued bonds and taxed landowners in the district for the benefits derived. From topographical maps, they knew that the elevation of the land falls one foot per mile from Cape Girardeau to the Arkansas border. They devised a system of levees and ditches that relied heavily on gravity.

By 1928, the district had built nearly 1,000 miles of ditches, more than 300 miles of levees and had drained 1.2 million acres of land in a drainage project that at the time was the largest in the history of the world. The district drains 750,000 acres upland of the drainage system and 1.2 million acres total.  Houseboats were home to many of the men and women who dug canals and built the levees.  My Dad remembered some of the children who lived on the houseboats parked not far from his house.   Land, once 95 percent covered in water and trees, is now largely cleared and free of water most of the year.  Draining the earthquake swamp became one of the greatest engineering marvels of the 20th century.  The project moved more earth than was moved in digging the Panama Canal. [1]

Sadly, Anna Eliza Blount Kline never got to enjoy the fruits of her portion of tax money spent on draining the swamps.  The money she invested in the Stock Market provided generous dividends for many years until the 1929 Stock Market Crash.  With the onset of the Great Depression and the loss of her money in the market, she was forced to use what funds she had on hand to support the family and see her last two grandsons through high school.  My father was very disappointed he was unable to go college as did his three older siblings.  He wanted to obtain a degree in the field of mathematics.  

  

In the end, the combination of Anna losing her money in the crash of the Stock Market, coupled with the fact previous customers could no longer afford to purchase dairy products from the family dairy farm, and Henry Cline’s siblings coming to visit, while expecting to be fed for weeks and months at a time, made Anna flat broke within three years.  My dad told my brothers and me that he recalled his father’s brothers and sisters coming to visit for extended stays because his family had a large garden, fruit trees, and dairy cows to feed them.  Some of his father’s siblings could not find work and had no food.  During the Great Depression, many people had no food and had to wait in bread lines to keep from starving.  Henry took care of his brother Bedford when he became elderly and had no means of support, in addition to raising his half-brother Sam.

Anna first sold off portions of her Swamp Land Patent, then by late 1932, she lost the land in total.  She and her son-in-law Henry had to move in with his son, and her grandson Ed Cline in McMullin, Missouri.  She took pride in the fact she saw all her grandchildren finish high school and three of the older grandchildren went to college.  People who knew her well said that even after she lost her money and property, she held her head high and entered a room like she owned it up until her death on 29 June 1934.  She was quite a lady, and I wish I could have met her.

Researched and written by Anna Eliza’s great-granddaughter, Margaret Cline Harmon.  Contact – mcharmon1@gmail.com, 225-788-5999.  Any reproduction of this article should give credit to the author, dated February 2017.

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1  The Little River Drainage District – Sam Blackwell article in the Sunday, November 4, 2007, Southeast Missourian, Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

Part 5 of the Saga of Anna Eliza Blount Kline

Part 5 of 6

Anna Eliza Blount Kline

And Her Swamp Land Patent

The relationship between Anna Eliza and Henry Cline was a complicated one.  First, they were first cousins.  His mother was Sophronia Tickell-Cline, and her mother was Elizabeth Tickell-Jones-Moore-Blount-Mosier, who were sisters.  Anna was born in 1846, and William Henry Cline was born in 1859.  Due to the timing of Elizabeth moving to Cheatham, Tennessee about the time Henry was born, Anna and Henry were not around each other as children, except for possible family trips to visit each other’s families.  Henry moved from Hickman County, Kentucky to New Madrid, after his father died in 1885.  His move was two years after Anna secured her Swamp Land Patent in Morehouse.  Secondly, at some point, he started dating Anna’s daughter Lena, and they married on 1888 at the New Madrid Methodist Episcopal Church, South.  Henry was twelve years older than Lena.  I don’t know what Anna thought about the marriage between the second cousins. However, we are aware she changed the spelling of Gazwell’s last name from Cline to Kline after the couple married.  I imagine that was to direct misgivings from the two of them being cousins.  Thirdly, we are not certain, but we believe Henry used some of his inheritance money to build the two-story home for his family on Anna’s Swamp Land Patent property.  This action starts to complicate the family finances.  We know Anna had much more money available than Henry; however, he had enough money to start a dairy farm shortly after building a house on Anna’s land, and he provided for the family with the dairy farm.  Grandma Anna was there for piano lessons, trips and other extras her grandchildren needed or wanted.  My dad said he thought his grandmother bought the beautiful furniture in their home from a firm in St. Louis and had it shipped down the Mississippi River to New Madrid.  Henry and Anna both dressed well and wrote expensive jewelry.  When it came to who had the last word, though, money usually won the issue, and Anna had the most money.  Henry was said to be overly strict, physically, to his children, like his father was to him, but Grandma protected them as much as possible.

Lena and Henry’s family had grown to include three sons and a daughter by 1904, Howard Dennis Cline, born in 1891, William Edward Cline, born 1899, Gazwell Harold Cline, born 1903, and Eula Cline-Goolsby, born 1895.  Henry and Lena had two more sons and two more daughters after Anna moved in with the family, Curtis Henry Cline, born 1911, Vera Daugherty Cline, born 1905, and Lena Grace Cline-Dye, born 1907.  Lena gave birth to her last child, Clarence “Cotton” Cline, in 1913.  My dad and his sisters often talked about the beautiful dining room they had, with delicate china, and a player piano in the parlor.  Many enjoyable times were held in the home with Lena playing the piano, and Henry playing the violin or fiddle.  She became very ill on 30 August 1914, and was taken to the nearest hospital in Cairo, Illinois, but died from a ruptured hernia on 31 August 1914.[2]  At this point, Anna had only her grandchildren left in her life.  She considered it her responsibility and honor to raise her grandchildren to adulthood.  Henry Cline never remarried, and my father told me that it was because he and his siblings hated their last step-mother, Susan, and he would now put his children through living with a step-mother.  The family always had domestic help. A couple of cousins, who wish not to be identified, told me there were rumors that Henry became very friendly with the domestic help and the family found it difficult to keep the same maid and cook for any length of time.  My cousins inferred he might have tried to get too friendly with them, but it is only speculation.

  Tragedy came to Anna and the Cline family again on 5 March 1926.  It was about 11 o’clock on a Sunday morning when the Cline home burned to the ground.  My dad told me that his Uncle Madison’s house was identical to their house, but he had a metal roof.  The Cline home had a wood-shack roof and embers from the fireplace landed on the roof and caused the fire.  The fire was reported in the Sikeston Daily Standard the same day.  It stated, “Fire broke out in the home of Henry Cline Sunday morning about 11 o’clock, two miles southeast of Morehouse.  Help calls took the men from the churches and streets of Morehouse, but in the high winds, the house was soon beyond control and was practically a total loss together with the contents.”  The eight children, Henry and Anna were devastated by the loss of their home.  They loved it and my dad often talked about it in a loving way.  A much smaller single-story, six room house was built to replace the large two story home.  The family managed to save a few pieces of furniture from the parlor, but it was mostly a total loss.  Two chairs saved are now in possession of two of Gazwell Cline’s children.  I am sure they will remain in the family for many years to come.

My father, Curtis H. Cline, told many warm stories about his grandmother.  Above all else, he remembered her as a loving grandmother.  He remembered that she enjoyed entertaining in an elegant way and was generous with her family.  One remembrance he shared was the time his father had instructed him to do a chore, and he continued to play up in the barn loft.  He was about nine or ten years old at the time.  He made a misstep and fell out of the loft and hurt himself.  His father came at him with a horsewhip ready to discipline him, but his grandma ran out and threw her apron over him and told his dad, “don’t you touch this boy, can’t you see he is hurt?”  Every time he told the story he got tears in his eyes and almost cried.  He thought the world of Anna Eliza Blount Kline.  Another thing he recalled was that Anna looked very elegant and aristocratic.   He also told my brothers and me that his grandma had the ability to look taller than she was, and she drew everyone’s attention when she walked into a room.  My cousin Sam Goolsby, son of Eula Cline Goolsby, is the only great-grandchild living that remembers Anna Blount Kline.  He was born in 1929, and what he remembers most is that she was a “lady” in every sense of the word, and that she was very aristocratic in the way she walked, looked, and conducted herself.

My dad also remembered walking on raised boardwalks around Morehouse when the Little River flooded the area every spring.  He also told me he remembers hearing panthers scream and it sounded a lot like a woman screaming.  He said the scream made his hair stand on end.  He remembered watching the workers digging up stumps and making the ditches related the Little River Drainage District when he was growing up in Morehouse.  Families working in the drainage district lived in houseboats, and a few children of the workers attended the Morehouse schools.

Plans to turn the swamp into farmland date to the 1840s, but the job seemed too big. Not even the government had ever undertaken anything of that magnitude before. But in 1907, a group of men formed an organization called the Little River Drainage District to take on the swamp. They issued bonds and taxed landowners in the district for the benefits derived.  In our last segment on Anna and her Swamp Land Patent we will learn if she benefited from the draining of the swamps.  How did this fine lady live out her life?  Come back tomorrow for the final part of the saga of Anna Eliza Blount Kline.

Anna Eliza Blount Kline

                           Anna Eliza Blount Kline                      And Her Swamp Land Patent

The great New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-1812 created a big swamp in southeast Missouri.  Small streams including the Little River that runs through Morehouse, Missouri, fed the swamp.  A two-million-acre region called the “Missouri Glades” was the largest wetland in America prior to 1928.  The swamp was nearly impenetrable and considered almost useless by most everyone.  The exception was at the edges and on the ridges.  The swamp's dense forests contained millions of feet of marketable timber.  Some of the ancient oak trees reached 27 feet circumference, and some of the Cyprus trees circumferences reached 10 to 12 feet.  In the early to mid-1800's, lumbermen recognized the value of abundant timber and bought up most of the land. But after the lumbermen cleared the land of its oak, cypress, hickory, and gum trees, they found that they had to pay taxes on unproductive land.  The Swamp Land Act of 1850 was enacted to solve this problem by finding individuals willing to pay taxes on the swamp land.

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The land in the district initially was owned by the United States government and granted to the state through the Swamp Land Act of 1850. Not knowing what to do with it, the state conveyed the land to the counties.  The land remained vested in the counties for most of the last half of the 19th century because the counties were unable to find anyone willing to assume the burden of taxes on swamp land after the timber was removed.  The counties eventually sold the land to private owners and companies at low cost, with the stipulation that it had to be developed and drained.[1]

My great-grandmother Anna Eliza Blount Kline applied for a Swamp Land Patent from the General Land Office of the United States at Ironton, Missouri.  She received Swamp Land Patent Number 496, on August 6, 1883, located in Section 4, Township 25, and Range 13, consisting of 640 acres.  The land was two miles southeast from Morehouse, Missouri, and down the dirt road from her Uncle Madison J. Tickell, her mother’s brother. 

[1] Missouri Secretary of State website.

Anna Kline (Census records show the last name as Cline) was the daughter of Thomas P.  and Elizabeth Cornelius (Tickell) Blount, born 24 Nov 1846 in Obion County, Tennessee, or Fulton County, Kentucky.  Obion County is in the northwest corner of Tennessee.  Anna’s mother’s parents, William J. and Lavinia (Stallcup) Tickell, lived in Fulton County, Kentucky at the time of her birth, which is adjacent to Obion County, Tennessee.  My Aunt Grace (Cline) Dye told me Anna’s father was said to be related to the prominent political Blount family.  However, I have yet to find a published connection, or a Will, relating him to Tennessee Governors William or Willie Blount.   Elizabeth Tickell was married to Thomas Blount a month less than two-and-a-half years when he died on 29 Mar 1848.    Family tradition tells that her father provided well for Anna and her mother financially, but as of February 2017, I have not located Thomas P. Blount’s Will in either Obion County, Tennessee or Fulton County, Kentucky.  Anna Eliza was only 16 months old when her father died, and was forty-five when her mother died in New Madrid on 9 Mar 1892.  Her mother left her property in New Madrid, and all her personal belonging in a will recorded in the New Madrid County Courthouse.  I believe, but can’t prove, that Elizabeth Tickell’s wealth, and then Anna’s wealth came from the Thomas Blount marriage.

Part 2 of 6 will be published tomorrow, and one part a day thereafter until all six are published.

My Father's Hands

My swing that Dad built in 1951

There are many memories of my father, Curtis Henry Cline.  Here are two distinct memories. My Dad was physically strong due to working with his hands.  They were large, strong and tough from hard work, but when he touched me they were gentle.  I loved my Father’s hands and I thought he could do anything with those hands. On the emotional side, he was a tenderhearted man.  He used to read the Herald Of Holiness magazine from our church and tears would run down his eyes when he read of the needs throughout the world, or of an uplifting article.

When I was about five-years-old, I remember wanting a swing .   I kept asking my Dad to build me one in my sweetest voice. I knew he worked from sun up to sun down, but I was sure he could squeeze in time to make my swing.  He had a welding shop behind our home, and I guess I thought he would make it there.  One day he kneed down on his knee to my level and with tears in his eyes said “Margaret if you want a swing as badly as you say, I will build you one tomorrow.”  And he did!  He welded a metal bar across the top from our shed to another bar he buried next to our fence.  He hung log chains down from the cross bar to a wooden seat he made for me.  I thought my Dad was wonderful back when I was a little girl and continued to think so until he died December 21, 2002, at the age of ninety-one.  Curtis Henry Cline was my first hero.

Another time, I moved to St. Louis, Missouri and rented a small apartment on the third floor of the building.  Needing furniture, I asked Mom and Dad to let me use some of their extra furniture.  They agreed to help me and Dad loaded some furniture in his truck and drove from Sikeston, Missouri to my Aunt Beulah and Uncle Orville’s house where I was staying until I had furniture for the apartment.  He arrived about 10:00 am and we drove from the suburbs to St. Louis where my apartment was located.  I tried to help him move as much as possible, but it seems I was more in his way, with the furniture than a help.  Therefore, he strapped the dresser on his back and walked the three flights of steps to my new place.  He did the same thing with more furniture.  I carried the boxes and bedding.  When he got to the top of the stairs with the last piece of furniture, he stopped and asked me, “how much less are the rooms on the third floor than the ones on the first floor?”  I told him they were $30 a month less.  He said he would pay the difference for me to live on the first floor when I moved again.  He never complained, he only let me know he wished it had been on the first floor.  Whenever I needed anything, he was there for me with his usual smile.  There are many more memories I want to write but I want to concentrate on his ethics and character in the next blog about Curtis Henry Cline.

Remembering My First Home with Tom & Tina

I am looking back at some of the homes we owned over the year and found the first house we bought. It was only 1,400 square feet of living area, plus a basement but it seemed big to us when we first bought it. I think our house payment was $88.00 a month when we bought it in 1972. This picture was taken in January 1973. I could not find a front view in the summer. We spent five wonderful years there, and I remember watching Tina walk to the bus her first day of high school. It was sad, and I shed a tear, to know she was growing up so quickly. Thank you, God, for allowing me to retain my memories. The house was located at 13 Gloria Lane, St. Peters, Missouri. The house was active with our daughter Tina and her friends going and coming. My parents came up to visit every eight to ten weeks. Our friends from St. Charles visited often and I remember our New Years Eve party we gave in 1975! That is a story of its own.

I began researching my family in this house.  I had no idea how important genealogy would become in my life.  It led to my presiding over Scott County Historical and Genealogy Society, writing the Scott County Newsletter for five years, and serving on the MissouriState Genealogical Association in Columbia, Missouri for several years.

My father, Curtis H. Cline, planted a tree in front of the house.  We drove by the house in 2006 while we were in the area, and the tree was as tall as the house.  I wish my  Dad could have seen it before he died in 2002.  Tom and I built the house and the three of use visited it every few days until we signed the papers and moved in.  I enjoyed sharing my life with Tom and Tina in this house.  I hope the owners that followed us enjoyed it too.

He Was An Inspiration To All

Charles Devall

Charles Devall, a church friend of mine, was recently interviewed for the Member Moments Oral History Project of Zachary United Methodist Church. Sadly, Charles lost his battle with brain cancer on September 7, 2015. He refused to let cancer define who he was or what he was cable of doing. He was blessed with a great Christian marriage of mutual love and respect. As a tribute to the admirable man Charles was, here is an excerpt from that oral history interview I conducted in April of this year.

"The values and beliefs I developed from attending Zachery United Methodist are honesty, faith, and the importance of following the teachings of the Bible. I learned the Gold Rule to treat others as I wanted them to treat me. I have lived my life by these values and beliefs.

I remember attending church in the wooden church. I enjoyed ringing the church bell by pulling on the rope. Robin Pope liked ringing the bell more than anyone. I also remember the church was not air-conditioned, and it got really hot inside during the summertime. Back then we had Sunday night church services too.

Charles smiled and said, “I have been blessed with a good life. I enjoyed working for Ethyl Corporation as a plant Electrical Supervisor between 1966 and 1985 when Ethyl shut down the Baton Rouge plant.” He continued to recall that he worked at other jobs after Ethyl but that was the job he enjoyed the most and still has friends and meaningful relationships from his years of working at Ethyl Corporation. He and Sherry meet former co-workers for dinner several times a year.

One of the more interesting things Charles told me was about his wedding day. “After he was dressed and about ready to go to the church, Chief of Police Pryor Browning came to the door and told me he had an important warrant to serve on me (His wife was our wedding planner.). He placed me into the rear seat of the police car and drove toward the church. As we were pulling onto Old Baker Road, a car went speeding by us. He told me to hold on he could not let someone go that fast without ticketing them. He caught the driver, gave him a ticket, and then we got to the church just in time for me to walk out into the sanctuary. Sherry was beautiful and we had a wonderful wedding. I don’t know how many grooms arrive at their wedding in a police car, but that is how I arrived at my wedding."

He had many stories that will now go untold.  He had a zest for life and loved to laugh and make others laugh. He was honest, dependable, pleasant to everyone and a man of great Christian character. Charles is gone from this earth but he is alive in our memories and I was blessed to have known him. 

The Changing Seasons of Life

I was reflecting on the future today and the changes that are coming soon in my life.  I will complete my three-year term on the Regional Arts Council of Zachary at the end of the year.  I plan on rewriting and expanding the book “History of Zachary United Methodist Church” for the first six months of 2015.  I recently read and was reminded that God stands with us during our changing seasons of life.
  

When I turned 50 and then 60, I felt little different than every other birthday.  I turned 70 this July, and I do sense change in my body, and I can no longer push myself the way I did for years.  Now I realize my time to make positive change is short.  I have a framed needlepoint that my daughter Tina made me many Christmas ago.  The needlepoint verse is one of my favorite poems.  It reads,
  

 “If I should live to a ripe old age,

may I possess some bit of individuality,

charm, and wit, that I may not be discarded

when I am withered, worn and weak,

but sought after and cherished, like a fine antique.”

     

I try to live a Christian life and to think of others.  Time will only tell if I am discarded or cherished.  I know the choices I make today will define my future.
    

2015 offers a needed transition back to my writing.  It is a welcome change and will allow me to paint again too.  One of the students I teach at Zachary High School, asked me, “Are you old enough to retire Mrs. Harmon?”  I responded, "Yes, on a calendar, I am eligible to retire, but hope I never stop working or learning.  Learning, especially, is the seasoning in my life.  That is why I do substitute teaching."
    

As I work on the history book of Zachary United Methodist Church, I will blog on thoughts generated from my research.  I hope you will follow then, and enjoy them.   I wish my family and friends a great 2015.