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1925--What a Year!
My Dad, Lowell Coney, and Mom, Orianna McDonnold, were married on
January 7, 1923. She was barely sixteen, and he was twenty-one. They
rented a small farm near Ladonia, Texas, from Grandpa Coney and began
housekeeping in the same small three-room frame house where Dad had been
born. Neither Mom nor Dad had been given a middle name when they were
born.
Dad's sister, Mattie May, had been nicknamed "B. I." This name was given
to her because whenever someone called, "Mattie May", she answered,
"Here be I." She married Noel "Red" Rucker the same year that Mom and
Dad wed, and they moved into a rented farm just a short distance away.
Visiting almost daily, these two young couples became quite close. The
girls helped each other with cooking, cleaning, sewing, and whatever
else needed doing in their houses, as well as helping with the work in
the fields. The men did the heavy fieldwork, plowing, planting, etc.,
and worked together if a task required both of them.
In 1925, after making a couple of crops, Dad and Red had a little money
saved. It was then that Dad read about the Ford Motor Company selling
engines and auto parts. He and Red were very good at making machinery
work. They had learned by keeping their family's farm machinery in good
repair while they were growing up. They decided that they would buy the
engines, transmissions, chassis, and other parts to build their own
cars. In less time than it takes to tell, they ordered parts, then put
them together, and then tested to see if the cars would REALLY run.
Would they! Then they built a wooden platform over the wheelbase. They
built a wooden box and attached it to use as a seat. They covered the
engine with a piece of sheet metal. And away they went! They would drive
to visit, go to Ladonia to buy supplies, go to the movies, or just
"joy-ride" and visit as young couples liked to do. Those cars were a
source of amusement everywhere they drove them. (I have a picture of Mom
and Dad in their car. It was made just a few weeks before I was born.)
This same year, Mom and B. I. were both expecting their first babies, so
extra funds would be needed for that. Dad and Red were willing to work
at almost anything to be sure their families were well taken care of,
and the prospect of earning more came from an unexpected source.
That year saw a big increase in the skunk population in the area. They
raided henhouses, eating eggs, killing chickens, and generally filling
the air with their putrid odors. (It was also well known that skunks
carried rabies, so a bite from one of them was a cause for concern.)
There was also a big demand for fur at this time. Dad and Red began
searching the area for skunks, killing them, then taking their pelts to
a taxidermist in Commerce who tanned the skins and sold them to
furriers. This was a "smelly" business. Since most farmers didn't want
to take a chance of getting "sprayed"--or bitten-by the skunks, word
spread through the community that Dad and Red would get rid of them.
They were kept busy all summer hunting skunks. Mom and B. I. were
nauseated all during their pregnancies with having to wash those stinky
clothes. However, they put the extra money aside to pay the doctor for
delivering the expected babies, as well as for extra items for them.
Since neither family had a phone, and they needed to have access to one
to call for the doctor when he was needed, Dad and Red kept the phone
lines in repair from their nearest neighbor's house all the way to
Ladonia. After a storm, they walked the lines and re-hung the ones that
were down. The phone company was very appreciative of their efforts.
Red and B. I.'s daughter, Dorthy Fay, was born on October 24, 1925. I
was born on October 26, 1925, just two days later, weighing nine pounds.
Mom was paralyzed from the waist down for three days after I was born,
but she eventually regained the use of her legs. However, this
complication caused Mom and Dad to think that I would be their only
child, so--even though I was a girl--they named me for Dad. Mom's old
maid sister, Ollie Ray, was staying with them after I was born. She
insisted that they also give me HER name. And so they did, Lowell Ray
Coney.
Farming, building a car, finding a source for extra income, and having a
healthy baby all in one year! What more could one ask for?
Lowell McCormack
Gainesville, Texas
Published:
November 14,
2005
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