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Jot 'Em Down, Texas
Yes, there really was a Jot 'Em Down, Texas. It was situated on the
Hunt-Delta county line just about five miles south of Pecan Gap.
It was begun in 1937 by my blind uncle, Dion Cole McDonnold. My
grandparents, Pleasant Thomas and Lela Maurine (Cole) McDonnold, owned
about 100 acres of land on that site. They had reared eight children
there in a large two-story home. The house had burned in 1920, and
Grandpap built a smaller one-story house. Grandpap had been a teacher,
affectionately known to his children as "the Professor." He died a few
years later, leaving Lela and Uncle Dion to live in the house. Lela had
a severe heart attack in 1937, which the doctor said was the result of
her having to do such heavy laundry through the years, and having to
wring out all of those heavy work clothes by hand. This was the reason
that Uncle Dion wanted to start a washateria and country store. He felt
that his mission in life was to build a place where women's job of doing
the laundry could be made easier, thus extending their lives. His older
brother, Doug, who lived in Pecan Gap, helped him get started in the
enterprise. They called a meeting of the people in the community to see
if the citizens would patronize the store and washateria. The answer was
an overwhelming "Yes!" The ladies saw right away how wonderful it would
be to have a nice place to do their weekly laundry, as well as the labor
they would save from no longer having to fill a wash pot in the yard,
boil out clothes, rinse them in several tubs of fresh water, and wring
them by hand.
When Doug and Dion asked for suggestions for a name
for the store, one of the men suggested "Jot 'Em Down," which was the
name of the store on a favorite radio comedy of that era. When asked why
he suggested that name, the man simply pointed to Dion and Doug and
said, "There sit Lum and Abner." So the name stuck.
Dion had a large pond built to hold the water for the washateria, had
the land terraced so that it would funnel rain water to the pond, and
began construction of the buildings. In about a year the store and
washateria were in operation. (Unfortunately, Lela died before they were
completed.) They were a huge success. Customers were there from early in
the morning till late at night. Then Uncle Dion began a lunch counter in
the store to accommodate customers.
Some cotton farmers, headed
by Clark James, began talking about building a co-op cotton gin across
the road from the store, since the pool that Uncle Dion had built would
furnish sufficient water for the gin's needs. The citizens were all for
building the gin, too. So shortly the Jot 'Em Down Cooperative Gin
Association was in operation. After a few years it ran into financial
difficulties and closed down. Roy Houchin felt that it could still be a
money-making enterprise. He talked to Dion, and they consulted Quentin
Miller, a banker from Cooper, Texas. The three of them purchased the
stock of the corporation and started the gin up again. Jot 'Em Down was
a thriving little community. Sometimes during ginning season, from
September through December each year, the gin was running twenty hours a
day, seven days a week.
Then, during World War II, the community
began to change. Workers were needed in Dallas for the defense
industries. Many men joined the armed forces, and women moved to towns
to find jobs. Farm tractors and large machinery began replacing the
workers formerly needed in farm jobs. With rural electrification
available to almost everyone, and home laundry machines, the washateria
was no longer such a necessity. Jobs in nearby towns made the economy
better. Travel was easier. Nearly every farm family had a car or truck
and began to do its grocery shopping in towns where fresh vegetable and
fruits were available. Farmers took their cotton to larger towns to be
ginned, and their wives shopped there while the ginning was being done.
My husband and I went to visit Jot 'Em Down in June 2002 after attending the
Ladonia High School reunion. There is nothing there. No buildings, no
remnants of the store, washateria, or gin. Just one house that Uncle
Dion built, and a lot of memories. Through the years, the state of Texas
has put up several "Jot 'Em Down" signs to mark the location, but the
signs have been stolen almost as soon as they were erected.
It
reminds me of Gone With the Wind. A little community that seemed
to be so vital to the everyday lives of its inhabitants is now gone,
with no trace of its ever existing.
Lowell McCormack
Gainesville, Texas
Published:
November 14,
2005
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