Miners Camp: February 26, 1893
Birmingham, Alabama
By Pat Collins
Chapter 3
The Move
Haywood hugged and kissed his daddy goodbye, and rushed out the door to get in the back of the wagon beside Chester. He was excited to be going to live with Huldy Jane and Uncle Sol. They lived in town, close to the general store. Papa said that when he came to town he would take him to the general store and buy him some penny candy. He would have to share a bed with his nephew Chester, Huldy Jane’s son by her first husband, Mr. Coleman.
Chester was just 2 years older than him. They had always had a good time playing together. They seemed almost like brothers, so that would not be so bad. Aunt Loucinda and her two boys Will and Antney Harris, lived down the street from Huldy. There were a lot of children in town that him and Chester could find to play with. He could hardly wait.
Papa and Jim came by as often as they could, but it did not seem like it was very often. Papa did as he had promised, when he came, he would take Haywood and Chester to the General store and buy them both a sack of penny candy. Sometimes he would take them to the Schloss Furnace where he now worked, to pick up his check. He made 3 dollars a week.
They would always pass the blacksmith shop, and would stop to watch as the smitty made horseshoes and fitted them to the horses feet. Papa liked to hang out down at the livery stable and talk to the other men who had come to town for supplies, and would talk about things like the weather, who had died, who had a new baby, and crops.
Haywood heard them talking about all the people who were moving to Georgia, Louisiana, and even way off to Texas. They were moving to find a better place to farm and those places were having land lotteries. They put your name in a big barrel and every month would pull out ten names. You would get 50 acres of land if your name was drawn out.
Papa talked about going to Georgia to the men. One day he told one of the men there that moving to Georgia sounded like a good idea to him. Soon after that, Papa, Jim, Will Henry, and Houston moved to Walker County, Georgia.
Haywood started hanging out at the livery stable whenever he could. There was word passing around at the livery stable that the preacher would be coming to Birmingham the next week. There would be preaching and singing every night and all day on Saturday and Sunday in the yard at the school house . This was always a lot of fun to Haywood. All the women would bring food and pies and cakes. There would be a break in the preaching and singing around noon and everyone would eat and sit on quilts laid out on the ground.
The children were free to run and play. Now that Haywood was 10 years old, he liked to see all the pretty young girls that came in their prettiest dresses. Huldy had gotten a letter from Papa, and said that papa would be here for sure to listen to the preaching. Haywood was glad, for he had not seen papa in a long time. Not since he had gone to Georgia to get in on the land lottery.
One of Haywood and Chester’s favorite thing to do was to see who would arrive on the stage coach and check into the Marrs Hotel. On this day it was Papa, and a couple by the name of Strickland, and a lovely young lady with porcelain skin, red hair and a parasol with ruffles around the edge of it.
Haywood found out, too soon for his liking, that her name was Miss Mayme Beatrice Wardlaw. She definitely had her sights set on Papa. For Papa had brought this woman, who was soon to be his wife, home to meet the rest of the family.
Mr. Strickland had a pretty wife, too. She seemed very fragile-like she was not strong enough for this land. She was definitely a city girl. The Strickland’s were moving here from the Carolina’s. Their household goods and livestock would soon be arriving on the Southern Rail Road. They had bought a tract of land out by Papa’s homestead. Miss Wardlaw checked into the Marrs Hotel, as did Mr. and Mrs. Strickland. Papa stayed with us at Huldy and Uncle Sol’s house.
Papa brought Miss Wardlaw to dinner at Huldy’s house the next day. We went to the preaching that night. Papa asked Haywood if he wanted to come home to Georgia with him. Haywood told him that he would just as soon stay there with his sister. On Saturday Papa and Miss Wardlaw got married by the traveling preacher, and stayed at his sister, Loucinda’s house. Monday they boarded the stage coach to go back to Walker County, Georgia.
Houston had joined the Army and Will Henry was doing farm work for a family in Georgia. This family just happened to have a pretty daughter with dark curly hair, who had caught Will Henry’s eye. Papa said that Jim was traveling around to different places and doing odd jobs here and there.
Soon after the Strickland’s moved to town, Mrs. Strickland died. Aunt Loucinda’s boys, Will and Antney Harris, had been helping the Strickland’s out on their farm. They helped Mr. Strickland lay his cotton crop in and then helped him get it to the Gin. After Mrs. Strickland died, Aunt Loucinda would take food out to the Strickland place. After all, she said, they all still needed to eat.
A year later Mr. Strickland and Aunt Loucinda got married, when the preacher came to town for a burying. They soon had 2 little girls to add to their family, Everline and Adeline.
Haywood went to work in the coal mines when he was 15 years old. He was called a Mule Boy. His job was to walk the mules down into the mine, stay with the mules while the other miners filled the cart up with coal, then walk the mules back up out of the mines. It was hard and dirty work. He spent long hours down in the mines. He got paid 2 dollars a week. One day he would find a way to get out of the mining business, he told himself.
Published U.S. Legacies Jan 2006
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