Bob's 1st wife, Martha "Mattie" King's tombstone inscribed: "Martha E. Hasten, w/o R. L. (note: in a Feb. 1881 sale of property, the Limestone County deed record Robert's name was clearly written as "R. T. Hasten")
from research records of Ruth Hasten Walsh:
In May 1998 I visited with Bessie Wales Hasting in her Ardmore, Alabama home. She told me that when she was a small child that the children who lived near Bob Hasten loved to watch him "fly by" in his buggy. She said that he was slender with long silver white hair flying in the breeze and "cut a striking figure as he stood on the foot-board of his buggy, twirling and popping the whip in air to make his horse go faster." She said he usually walked very fast and that, as he walked, the long tails of his black coat "flared out behind him" . Although he always seemed to be in a hurry, he would stop to give small children, whose parents didn't have much money, a piece or two of penny candy. He carried the candy in a a black cloth pouch that was pinned to the inside his coat pocket. She said she could never remember a time he didn't have candy on him. She said that if Bob Hasten had heard something nice about one of the kids, that kid got an extra piece of candy. Bessie could recall going to Bob Hasten's funeral; but, could not recall what year it was. She thought she might have around 12 or 13 years old. She said that someone brought a bowl full of candy to the cemetery and handed it out to the kids who were there.
Bob Hasten died between 1920 census enumeration and May 1924. A death certificate has not been found under any of the usual surname spellings of Hastings, Hasting, Hasten, Haston, Haisten, Haiston. A Bible record of Bob's date of death has not been found. I interviewing several of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren in years between 1995 and 2004. On one occasion several of them met me at the cemetery to show me his unmarked grave. During each of the interviews and again during the meeting at the cemetery, I heard the following account about why Bob's grave was never marked with a tombstone. It was said that within minutes of burying his 1st wife Martha "Mattie" King, Bob loaded his children into the family wagon. He then helped his sister-in-law, Nancy M. "Nannie" King get into the wagon. That as he drove the wagon out of the cemetery, he turned to Nannie and asked, "When are we getting married?" Bob's two older children, Erskin and Ada, (aged about 8-11 years old at the time) never forgave their father for disrespecting their mother's memory so soon after burying her. When Bob died, he was buried next to his 1st wife, Mattie. By not purchasing their dad a tombstone, his surviving children felt that was showing their dad the same respect he had shown their mother on the day she was buried. When their aunt and step-mother Nannie died, she was buried next to Bob. Bob's children purchased a tombstone to mark her grave and honor her memory.
It should be noted that following the deaths of her parents, Nannie lived with Bob and Mattie. That during the final two or three years of her life, Mattie had been so sick that she unable to take care of children, so her sister Nannie had performed all the household chores and "motherly" duties.
from research records of Ruth Hasten Walsh:
In May 1998 I visited with Bessie Wales Hasting in her Ardmore, Alabama home. She told me that when she was a small child that the children who lived near Bob Hasten loved to watch him "fly by" in his buggy. She said that he was slender with long silver white hair flying in the breeze and "cut a striking figure as he stood on the foot-board of his buggy, twirling and popping the whip in air to make his horse go faster." She said he usually walked very fast and that, as he walked, the long tails of his black coat "flared out behind him" . Although he always seemed to be in a hurry, he would stop to give small children, whose parents didn't have much money, a piece or two of penny candy. He carried the candy in a a black cloth pouch that was pinned to the inside his coat pocket. She said she could never remember a time he didn't have candy on him. She said that if Bob Hasten had heard something nice about one of the kids, that kid got an extra piece of candy. Bessie could recall going to Bob Hasten's funeral; but, could not recall what year it was. She thought she might have around 12 or 13 years old. She said that someone brought a bowl full of candy to the cemetery and handed it out to the kids who were there.
Bob Hasten died between 1920 census enumeration and May 1924. A death certificate has not been found under any of the usual surname spellings of Hastings, Hasting, Hasten, Haston, Haisten, Haiston. A Bible record of Bob's date of death has not been found. I interviewing several of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren in years between 1995 and 2004. On one occasion several of them met me at the cemetery to show me his unmarked grave. During each of the interviews and again during the meeting at the cemetery, I heard the following account about why Bob's grave was never marked with a tombstone. It was said that within minutes of burying his 1st wife Martha "Mattie" King, Bob loaded his children into the family wagon. He then helped his sister-in-law, Nancy M. "Nannie" King get into the wagon. That as he drove the wagon out of the cemetery, he turned to Nannie and asked, "When are we getting married?" Bob's two older children, Erskin and Ada, (aged about 8-11 years old at the time) never forgave their father for disrespecting their mother's memory so soon after burying her. When Bob died, he was buried next to his 1st wife, Mattie. By not purchasing their dad a tombstone, his surviving children felt that was showing their dad the same respect he had shown their mother on the day she was buried. When their aunt and step-mother Nannie died, she was buried next to Bob. Bob's children purchased a tombstone to mark her grave and honor her memory.
It should be noted that following the deaths of her parents, Nannie lived with Bob and Mattie. That during the final two or three years of her life, Mattie had been so sick that she unable to take care of children, so her sister Nannie had performed all the household chores and "motherly" duties.
Bob's 1st wife, Martha "Mattie" King's tombstone inscribed: "Martha E. Hasten, w/o R. L. (note: in a Feb. 1881 sale of property, the Limestone County deed record Robert's name was clearly written as "R. T. Hasten")
from research records of Ruth Hasten Walsh:
In May 1998 I visited with Bessie Wales Hasting in her Ardmore, Alabama home. She told me that when she was a small child that the children who lived near Bob Hasten loved to watch him "fly by" in his buggy. She said that he was slender with long silver white hair flying in the breeze and "cut a striking figure as he stood on the foot-board of his buggy, twirling and popping the whip in air to make his horse go faster." She said he usually walked very fast and that, as he walked, the long tails of his black coat "flared out behind him" . Although he always seemed to be in a hurry, he would stop to give small children, whose parents didn't have much money, a piece or two of penny candy. He carried the candy in a a black cloth pouch that was pinned to the inside his coat pocket. She said she could never remember a time he didn't have candy on him. She said that if Bob Hasten had heard something nice about one of the kids, that kid got an extra piece of candy. Bessie could recall going to Bob Hasten's funeral; but, could not recall what year it was. She thought she might have around 12 or 13 years old. She said that someone brought a bowl full of candy to the cemetery and handed it out to the kids who were there.
Bob Hasten died between 1920 census enumeration and May 1924. A death certificate has not been found under any of the usual surname spellings of Hastings, Hasting, Hasten, Haston, Haisten, Haiston. A Bible record of Bob's date of death has not been found. I interviewing several of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren in years between 1995 and 2004. On one occasion several of them met me at the cemetery to show me his unmarked grave. During each of the interviews and again during the meeting at the cemetery, I heard the following account about why Bob's grave was never marked with a tombstone. It was said that within minutes of burying his 1st wife Martha "Mattie" King, Bob loaded his children into the family wagon. He then helped his sister-in-law, Nancy M. "Nannie" King get into the wagon. That as he drove the wagon out of the cemetery, he turned to Nannie and asked, "When are we getting married?" Bob's two older children, Erskin and Ada, (aged about 8-11 years old at the time) never forgave their father for disrespecting their mother's memory so soon after burying her. When Bob died, he was buried next to his 1st wife, Mattie. By not purchasing their dad a tombstone, his surviving children felt that was showing their dad the same respect he had shown their mother on the day she was buried. When their aunt and step-mother Nannie died, she was buried next to Bob. Bob's children purchased a tombstone to mark her grave and honor her memory.
It should be noted that following the deaths of her parents, Nannie lived with Bob and Mattie. That during the final two or three years of her life, Mattie had been so sick that she unable to take care of children, so her sister Nannie had performed all the household chores and "motherly" duties.
from research records of Ruth Hasten Walsh:
In May 1998 I visited with Bessie Wales Hasting in her Ardmore, Alabama home. She told me that when she was a small child that the children who lived near Bob Hasten loved to watch him "fly by" in his buggy. She said that he was slender with long silver white hair flying in the breeze and "cut a striking figure as he stood on the foot-board of his buggy, twirling and popping the whip in air to make his horse go faster." She said he usually walked very fast and that, as he walked, the long tails of his black coat "flared out behind him" . Although he always seemed to be in a hurry, he would stop to give small children, whose parents didn't have much money, a piece or two of penny candy. He carried the candy in a a black cloth pouch that was pinned to the inside his coat pocket. She said she could never remember a time he didn't have candy on him. She said that if Bob Hasten had heard something nice about one of the kids, that kid got an extra piece of candy. Bessie could recall going to Bob Hasten's funeral; but, could not recall what year it was. She thought she might have around 12 or 13 years old. She said that someone brought a bowl full of candy to the cemetery and handed it out to the kids who were there.
Bob Hasten died between 1920 census enumeration and May 1924. A death certificate has not been found under any of the usual surname spellings of Hastings, Hasting, Hasten, Haston, Haisten, Haiston. A Bible record of Bob's date of death has not been found. I interviewing several of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren in years between 1995 and 2004. On one occasion several of them met me at the cemetery to show me his unmarked grave. During each of the interviews and again during the meeting at the cemetery, I heard the following account about why Bob's grave was never marked with a tombstone. It was said that within minutes of burying his 1st wife Martha "Mattie" King, Bob loaded his children into the family wagon. He then helped his sister-in-law, Nancy M. "Nannie" King get into the wagon. That as he drove the wagon out of the cemetery, he turned to Nannie and asked, "When are we getting married?" Bob's two older children, Erskin and Ada, (aged about 8-11 years old at the time) never forgave their father for disrespecting their mother's memory so soon after burying her. When Bob died, he was buried next to his 1st wife, Mattie. By not purchasing their dad a tombstone, his surviving children felt that was showing their dad the same respect he had shown their mother on the day she was buried. When their aunt and step-mother Nannie died, she was buried next to Bob. Bob's children purchased a tombstone to mark her grave and honor her memory.
It should be noted that following the deaths of her parents, Nannie lived with Bob and Mattie. That during the final two or three years of her life, Mattie had been so sick that she unable to take care of children, so her sister Nannie had performed all the household chores and "motherly" duties.
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