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The Coney Home Place
Leon Josephus Coney and Ida Augusta Hawkins were married in Arkansas.
That first year they had a son, Samuel V., who was born on August 9,
1891, and died in February 1892 of pneumonia.
"Seph," as all of the family called him, contacted his brother Cal, who
lived in High, near Paris,Texas, and decided to move away from Arkansas.
Uncle Cal was farming and he and Seph shared the farm. One of them had a
mule and the other one had a horse, so together they had a team.
From there they moved to Muddig, where they lived in an old barn where
Mac and Lovell Daniel's house now stands. Of course, there was no
electricity, no radio, and no telephone.
Then Grandpa Leon purchased the Scott place. They moved to the small,
three-room, wood-frame house where my daddy, Lowell Coney, was born on
April 30, 1901. Even though the five children before him and the three
that came after him had multiple names, Dad's was just one name. (In
checking through the genealogy records, I found the name "Lowell" a
couple of generations back as the maiden name of one of the Coneys'
wives and of two other Coney sons later, and consider this to be the
source of Dad's name.) That house had a fireplace in one room which
would be used to heat the place in the winter, one bedroom, and a
kitchen room on the back of the house. Not much space in which to move a
family of two adults and four children, with another one on the way.
(Dad's sister Mary Lou said that she did not know if Grandpa purchased
the large "home place" at that time or not.)
Uncle Henry needed some help in Mississippi, and Grandpa was lonesome
for his family. Besides, he was very fond of Uncle Henry, so he moved
his family back. Mattie May was born there--their only child to be born
in Mississippi.
Grandpa made arrangements with a tenant farmer to take care of the farm.
Part of the proceeds from the crops was to go to Mr. Stewart as rent. A
year or so later, Mr. Stewart wrote a letter that caused them to move
back to Texas. The letter advised Grandpa that Stewart was not receiving
all of the rent that he was due from the farm. He stated that the tenant
farmer was using the proceeds from the farm to finance his other
business. Grandpa came back to check on it and found out it was true. So
the tenant farmer left and Grandpa moved his family back.
They lived across the creek from the home place that year, in the house
where Dad was born, and moved to it the next. They went to church at
Muddig, just across the fence and about 100 yards from Hugh Carver's
place. Then they started going to a school on the Stewart place, called
Barnett. That schoolhouse was sold to the Hevrons who moved it and made
a barn out of it. Then the Coney kids started going to Yowell. (Mary Lou
said that they had a well at the barn and a well at the house. Buster
put some goldfish in the well at the barn. On a sunny day you could see
the goldfish swimming in it, and they got to be huge.)
The year they moved back from Mississippi and moved into the home place,
Granny rented a room to the teacher. Dad (Lowell) said she rented a room
to the teacher for three years. Ola and Ruth stayed in the hall, the
teacher stayed in the piano room, Granny and Grandad stayed in the
fireplace room, Edgar and Buster stayed in the dining room, and Lowell
and Dave stayed in the "boys' room." I don't ever remember seeing the
"boys' room." It was a room that was built behind the kitchen, and after
all the kids were gone they tore it down. Mary Lou said that it
disappeared when she was a child. The home place had a big front porch
that circled around the front room. It also had a side porch behind the
hall and along the side of the dining room and kitchen. The living room
had a big fireplace, and on the mantle above it was a grandfather clock.
Granny kept it wound so they would know the time of day.
Roy Leon (Buster) was born there, and also Mary Lou. This brought the
number of their living children to eight. With so many children to care
for, everything had to be recycled. Clothing was handed down from the
older children to the younger children. In one of the photographs that I
have of the family, Dave and Dad are in the front, and although they are
dressed up they are barefoot. I asked Dad why. He said that the only
ones who got new shoes were Edgar and Ola. After Edgar wore his shoes
for a year--for everything from going to school to working in the
field--they were pretty well worn out, and were "set" to Edgar's feet.
They were uncomfortable to Dave, even though he wore them some. Then
after Dave, Dad got them--and they were REALLY worn out, tough and
uncomfortable. So he and Dave decided that they would rather go barefoot
in the summertime than try to wear those shoes. He said that after a
while of working in the field barefoot your feet got so tough that you
could kick rocks and not even feel it--then he just laughed.
I painted a picture of the old home place a few years ago while Dad was
living with me. He asked me to have copies made and send one to each of
the grandchildren as a gift from him. He got many phone calls and
letters of thanks. Ours hangs in our hallway, a memory from long ago.
Lowell McCormack
Gainesville, Texas
Published:
November 14,
2005
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