BIOGRAPH I:
FAMILY MAKES HISTORIC MOVE OUT OF KENTUCKY COAL MINING COMMUNITY:
In 1929 Alonzo Gamblin moved his family and several shirt tail relatives to Arizona, this group consisted of 22 people including adults, children and at least one newlywed couple (Clarence and Celesta were wed the day before they left and had not been alone since the wedding)
Al these people were all in a 1928 Ford truck with a stake bed, the younger guys cut hickory saplings bent them in a bow and covered it with canvas, Celesta said it looked like a covered wagon' I don't suppose they had much stuff, but they would have had at least a ,bag of clothes each, from pictures I have seen of old trucks even what they called big trucks then were not very big
I know they left Kentucky on Oct 6th and have been told by more than one that they didn't get to Arizona until Oct 29th can you imagine traveling for 23 days.
Frieda can remember her mom saying that on at least one night Alonzo rented a old house for the night somewhere along the way, Frieda's mom also told her the way Alonzo got money was from his daughter Ella, her husband Hiram Hocker was killed in the mines, at time he was killed Ella was on her death bed with T.B., she died 3 days after him without knowing that he had died, he got a small sum of money from the mines which eventually went Alonzo
I have been told Alonzo would not allow any water to be carried on the truck.
I am going to list the people as I have been told
Alonzo Gamblin age 47, Inez Gamblin age 39, Fairy Malone age 12 [ Inez's daughter Alonzo's step daughter], Clarence Gamblin age 18, Celesta Gamblin age 16, Virgil Gamblin age 15, Estal Gamblin age 12, Rollie Crick age 26, Verta Crick age 23, Paul Crick age 6, Evert Crick age 1, Melvin Dukes age 22 Melvin lived to be 104 years old, Melvin later said they ate a lot of bologna and pork and beans on that trip he also told about them breaking down in the desert and he took the water bucket and walked what he thought was about a mile but it turned out to be so far that he drank most of the bucket on the way back, some say he was the truck driver but several dispute this, Lorene Dukes age 17, Forest Dukes age1, Willby Hogan age 19 most say he drove the truck all the way and was sick all the way, when they got there he went to the Doctor and had appendicitis, Eunice Hogan age 14 and was pregnant with Dorothy Willby, George Malone, Irene Malone, Ben Malone, Mammie Willoughby, McKinley Willoughby
Most of you have seen the Movie Grapes of Wrath; I bet that seemed like a Sunday picnic compared to this trip
When they got there they could not find work and liked to starve, Vivian Backes pointed out that Oct 29 the day they got there was black Tuesday the day the stock market crashed
After they had been there a couple of months Celesta still had not been able to write her mother, some lady hired Celesta to clean her house and wash dishes, she gave her a stamp and envelope as her pay, she wrote her mother a letter on a paper sack
Also Frieda's mom told that her and Lorene would go to the trash dump and look for old tobacco sacks (bull duram smoking tobacco came in a small cloth bag) they would sew them together and make things from them
Vivian (Chatmon) Backes told me a story that her dad (Thomas Chatmon) told her
In 1937 when he was seven years old they moved to Arizona from Kentucky, there was his dad Parlon, his mother Gwen, him self, his brothers Paul 5 years old, Leamon 2 years
old and Virgil Gamblin
They were in a old vehicle made by Star, which had a canvas top, somewhere along the way the wind blew the top off, Thomas said Gwen put a old quilt on for a top, Thomas told Vivian they looked like a bunch of gypsies, one night along the trip there car broke down in northern Arizona they had to spend the night in that car and it snowed during the night, the next morning after day light Virgil was able to make a part for the distributor cap from a bus token it ran long enough to finish the trip
Thomas said they stayed about a year and during that time he had to go to kindergarten.
He had gone to first grade in Kentucky but they made him go to kindergarten in Arizona so as far as he was concerned it was a wasted year
From what Delila and Frieda can remember Pap (Buck Harrison Barbee) and Granny (Minerva Orange) moved from Kentucky to Cottonwood about 1941
It seems Clarence and Celesta had planed going to Kentucky to get them at the last minute Clarence could not get off work, Estel went in his place, sounds like all the kids except Mryna who was not born yet went with them, they say pap held Frieda on his lap the whole trip and she wiggled the whole trip (some things don't change) he named her bottley because he could say bothersome, they say Lindle cried all the way back, it was later discovered fly spray had been spilled on his stack of diapers.
FRIEDA (GAMBLIN) WILLIAMS
JIM WILLIAMS
BIOGRAPHY II:
THE KENTUCKIANS
First let me explain where the money came from. The man that was killed in the coal mines was Alonzo Gamblin's son-in-law. His name was Hiaram Hocker. He was married to Ella Mae, Alonzo's daughter. Ella was 23 years old and dying, the final stages of TB. Hiram went to work one morning and by 10:00 he was dead. A large slab fell from the cieling of the tunnel and crushed him. He worked for the Peabody coal company and had a life insurance policy with Ella Mae as the beneficiary. Ella died 3 days later without ever knowing Hiram had been killed. They never told her. She was pretty much in a coma by then. Alonzo being her closest next of kin recieved the benefits. I don't know how much it was, I think he never told anyone.
Mrs. Gamblin, Alonzo's wife, my dads mother, had died of TB and 2 of my dad's brothers and then Ella. The doctor told Alonzo that he had better get what was left of his family to Arizona or he wouldn't have a family left. Alonzo bought a big truck, probably one from the mining company as the mines were shutting down and started making the plans to leave. As the mines was shutting down, none of the men had work and there were rumors that the copper mines in Arizona were hiring, so everyone got in on the trip. It was a typical Grapes of Wrath story. According to my Mom, Celeste, there was 21 of them counting adults and children. They were 3 weeks on the road and camped out along side the road every night. Alonzo was in charge as it was his truck and money. He was the patriarch and his word was law. I'm sure the other couples had some money of thier own but it was primarily Alonzo that financed the trip.
This is what I have been told as to who all came. Alonzo was married to my mother's Aunt Inez, she was a Barbee by birth, a sister to Buck Barbee, my moms dad. That made Alonzo a stepfather to George, Verde, Eunice, Lorene and Fairy and they were my mother's first cousins by blood. The list below is the best to my knowledge.
Alonzo and Inez
Clarence and Celeste
Elstle Gamblin (Alonzo's son) he was 13
Fairy (Inez's daughter) she was 14
George and Irene
Melvin and Lorene
Welby and Eunice
Rollie and Verda
The rest would have been children. I would guess that McKinley was with them and Ben Ray was a baby. Melvin and Lorene had Forrest and he was a baby. Welby and Eunice had a daughter. She died here in Arizona and I believe her name was Dorothy. Rollie and Verda had Paul and Wayne. That would be 21.
Alonzo was very tight with the money, food and water. If you think about it he had to be. He had the reputation of being a tyrant by all the family but he had 21 human lives to be responsible for. He rationed out food and water. The water was for drinking and cooking plus the old truck would have heated up and they never knew how far to the next water source. I would have been stingy with it, too. Mom said they did stop a couple of times at one of those old Motor Courts so everyone could get a bath, clean up, do some laundry, wash the babies and thier diapers, rest and give the old truck some repairs and rest.
Like I said, it was a Grapes of Wrath story.
Alonzo had a son Virgil, but he did not come on that trip but did come out later. Also he had another daughter, Gwendella that was married to Parlon Chatman and they did come out here at a later date but did not stay. They went back to Kentucky in a hurry. Neither one could stand this dry desert.
When they got here they first came into Globe, a mining town down in southern Arizona. They were'nt hiring so they came up here to the Verde Valley, hoping to get on in Jerome. It was October of 1929. The stock market crashed and the great depression hit. It was a hard time and they all almost starved to death.
If I think of any more I will write it.
SOURCE:
DELILA (GAMBLIN)WHITE,
FAMILY MAKES HISTORIC MOVE OUT OF KENTUCKY COAL MINING COMMUNITY:
In 1929 Alonzo Gamblin moved his family and several shirt tail relatives to Arizona, this group consisted of 22 people including adults, children and at least one newlywed couple (Clarence and Celesta were wed the day before they left and had not been alone since the wedding)
Al these people were all in a 1928 Ford truck with a stake bed, the younger guys cut hickory saplings bent them in a bow and covered it with canvas, Celesta said it looked like a covered wagon' I don't suppose they had much stuff, but they would have had at least a ,bag of clothes each, from pictures I have seen of old trucks even what they called big trucks then were not very big
I know they left Kentucky on Oct 6th and have been told by more than one that they didn't get to Arizona until Oct 29th can you imagine traveling for 23 days.
Frieda can remember her mom saying that on at least one night Alonzo rented a old house for the night somewhere along the way, Frieda's mom also told her the way Alonzo got money was from his daughter Ella, her husband Hiram Hocker was killed in the mines, at time he was killed Ella was on her death bed with T.B., she died 3 days after him without knowing that he had died, he got a small sum of money from the mines which eventually went Alonzo
I have been told Alonzo would not allow any water to be carried on the truck.
I am going to list the people as I have been told
Alonzo Gamblin age 47, Inez Gamblin age 39, Fairy Malone age 12 [ Inez's daughter Alonzo's step daughter], Clarence Gamblin age 18, Celesta Gamblin age 16, Virgil Gamblin age 15, Estal Gamblin age 12, Rollie Crick age 26, Verta Crick age 23, Paul Crick age 6, Evert Crick age 1, Melvin Dukes age 22 Melvin lived to be 104 years old, Melvin later said they ate a lot of bologna and pork and beans on that trip he also told about them breaking down in the desert and he took the water bucket and walked what he thought was about a mile but it turned out to be so far that he drank most of the bucket on the way back, some say he was the truck driver but several dispute this, Lorene Dukes age 17, Forest Dukes age1, Willby Hogan age 19 most say he drove the truck all the way and was sick all the way, when they got there he went to the Doctor and had appendicitis, Eunice Hogan age 14 and was pregnant with Dorothy Willby, George Malone, Irene Malone, Ben Malone, Mammie Willoughby, McKinley Willoughby
Most of you have seen the Movie Grapes of Wrath; I bet that seemed like a Sunday picnic compared to this trip
When they got there they could not find work and liked to starve, Vivian Backes pointed out that Oct 29 the day they got there was black Tuesday the day the stock market crashed
After they had been there a couple of months Celesta still had not been able to write her mother, some lady hired Celesta to clean her house and wash dishes, she gave her a stamp and envelope as her pay, she wrote her mother a letter on a paper sack
Also Frieda's mom told that her and Lorene would go to the trash dump and look for old tobacco sacks (bull duram smoking tobacco came in a small cloth bag) they would sew them together and make things from them
Vivian (Chatmon) Backes told me a story that her dad (Thomas Chatmon) told her
In 1937 when he was seven years old they moved to Arizona from Kentucky, there was his dad Parlon, his mother Gwen, him self, his brothers Paul 5 years old, Leamon 2 years
old and Virgil Gamblin
They were in a old vehicle made by Star, which had a canvas top, somewhere along the way the wind blew the top off, Thomas said Gwen put a old quilt on for a top, Thomas told Vivian they looked like a bunch of gypsies, one night along the trip there car broke down in northern Arizona they had to spend the night in that car and it snowed during the night, the next morning after day light Virgil was able to make a part for the distributor cap from a bus token it ran long enough to finish the trip
Thomas said they stayed about a year and during that time he had to go to kindergarten.
He had gone to first grade in Kentucky but they made him go to kindergarten in Arizona so as far as he was concerned it was a wasted year
From what Delila and Frieda can remember Pap (Buck Harrison Barbee) and Granny (Minerva Orange) moved from Kentucky to Cottonwood about 1941
It seems Clarence and Celesta had planed going to Kentucky to get them at the last minute Clarence could not get off work, Estel went in his place, sounds like all the kids except Mryna who was not born yet went with them, they say pap held Frieda on his lap the whole trip and she wiggled the whole trip (some things don't change) he named her bottley because he could say bothersome, they say Lindle cried all the way back, it was later discovered fly spray had been spilled on his stack of diapers.
FRIEDA (GAMBLIN) WILLIAMS
JIM WILLIAMS
BIOGRAPHY II:
THE KENTUCKIANS
First let me explain where the money came from. The man that was killed in the coal mines was Alonzo Gamblin's son-in-law. His name was Hiaram Hocker. He was married to Ella Mae, Alonzo's daughter. Ella was 23 years old and dying, the final stages of TB. Hiram went to work one morning and by 10:00 he was dead. A large slab fell from the cieling of the tunnel and crushed him. He worked for the Peabody coal company and had a life insurance policy with Ella Mae as the beneficiary. Ella died 3 days later without ever knowing Hiram had been killed. They never told her. She was pretty much in a coma by then. Alonzo being her closest next of kin recieved the benefits. I don't know how much it was, I think he never told anyone.
Mrs. Gamblin, Alonzo's wife, my dads mother, had died of TB and 2 of my dad's brothers and then Ella. The doctor told Alonzo that he had better get what was left of his family to Arizona or he wouldn't have a family left. Alonzo bought a big truck, probably one from the mining company as the mines were shutting down and started making the plans to leave. As the mines was shutting down, none of the men had work and there were rumors that the copper mines in Arizona were hiring, so everyone got in on the trip. It was a typical Grapes of Wrath story. According to my Mom, Celeste, there was 21 of them counting adults and children. They were 3 weeks on the road and camped out along side the road every night. Alonzo was in charge as it was his truck and money. He was the patriarch and his word was law. I'm sure the other couples had some money of thier own but it was primarily Alonzo that financed the trip.
This is what I have been told as to who all came. Alonzo was married to my mother's Aunt Inez, she was a Barbee by birth, a sister to Buck Barbee, my moms dad. That made Alonzo a stepfather to George, Verde, Eunice, Lorene and Fairy and they were my mother's first cousins by blood. The list below is the best to my knowledge.
Alonzo and Inez
Clarence and Celeste
Elstle Gamblin (Alonzo's son) he was 13
Fairy (Inez's daughter) she was 14
George and Irene
Melvin and Lorene
Welby and Eunice
Rollie and Verda
The rest would have been children. I would guess that McKinley was with them and Ben Ray was a baby. Melvin and Lorene had Forrest and he was a baby. Welby and Eunice had a daughter. She died here in Arizona and I believe her name was Dorothy. Rollie and Verda had Paul and Wayne. That would be 21.
Alonzo was very tight with the money, food and water. If you think about it he had to be. He had the reputation of being a tyrant by all the family but he had 21 human lives to be responsible for. He rationed out food and water. The water was for drinking and cooking plus the old truck would have heated up and they never knew how far to the next water source. I would have been stingy with it, too. Mom said they did stop a couple of times at one of those old Motor Courts so everyone could get a bath, clean up, do some laundry, wash the babies and thier diapers, rest and give the old truck some repairs and rest.
Like I said, it was a Grapes of Wrath story.
Alonzo had a son Virgil, but he did not come on that trip but did come out later. Also he had another daughter, Gwendella that was married to Parlon Chatman and they did come out here at a later date but did not stay. They went back to Kentucky in a hurry. Neither one could stand this dry desert.
When they got here they first came into Globe, a mining town down in southern Arizona. They were'nt hiring so they came up here to the Verde Valley, hoping to get on in Jerome. It was October of 1929. The stock market crashed and the great depression hit. It was a hard time and they all almost starved to death.
If I think of any more I will write it.
SOURCE:
DELILA (GAMBLIN)WHITE,
BIOGRAPH I:
FAMILY MAKES HISTORIC MOVE OUT OF KENTUCKY COAL MINING COMMUNITY:
In 1929 Alonzo Gamblin moved his family and several shirt tail relatives to Arizona, this group consisted of 22 people including adults, children and at least one newlywed couple (Clarence and Celesta were wed the day before they left and had not been alone since the wedding)
Al these people were all in a 1928 Ford truck with a stake bed, the younger guys cut hickory saplings bent them in a bow and covered it with canvas, Celesta said it looked like a covered wagon' I don't suppose they had much stuff, but they would have had at least a ,bag of clothes each, from pictures I have seen of old trucks even what they called big trucks then were not very big
I know they left Kentucky on Oct 6th and have been told by more than one that they didn't get to Arizona until Oct 29th can you imagine traveling for 23 days.
Frieda can remember her mom saying that on at least one night Alonzo rented a old house for the night somewhere along the way, Frieda's mom also told her the way Alonzo got money was from his daughter Ella, her husband Hiram Hocker was killed in the mines, at time he was killed Ella was on her death bed with T.B., she died 3 days after him without knowing that he had died, he got a small sum of money from the mines which eventually went Alonzo
I have been told Alonzo would not allow any water to be carried on the truck.
I am going to list the people as I have been told
Alonzo Gamblin age 47, Inez Gamblin age 39, Fairy Malone age 12 [ Inez's daughter Alonzo's step daughter], Clarence Gamblin age 18, Celesta Gamblin age 16, Virgil Gamblin age 15, Estal Gamblin age 12, Rollie Crick age 26, Verta Crick age 23, Paul Crick age 6, Evert Crick age 1, Melvin Dukes age 22 Melvin lived to be 104 years old, Melvin later said they ate a lot of bologna and pork and beans on that trip he also told about them breaking down in the desert and he took the water bucket and walked what he thought was about a mile but it turned out to be so far that he drank most of the bucket on the way back, some say he was the truck driver but several dispute this, Lorene Dukes age 17, Forest Dukes age1, Willby Hogan age 19 most say he drove the truck all the way and was sick all the way, when they got there he went to the Doctor and had appendicitis, Eunice Hogan age 14 and was pregnant with Dorothy Willby, George Malone, Irene Malone, Ben Malone, Mammie Willoughby, McKinley Willoughby
Most of you have seen the Movie Grapes of Wrath; I bet that seemed like a Sunday picnic compared to this trip
When they got there they could not find work and liked to starve, Vivian Backes pointed out that Oct 29 the day they got there was black Tuesday the day the stock market crashed
After they had been there a couple of months Celesta still had not been able to write her mother, some lady hired Celesta to clean her house and wash dishes, she gave her a stamp and envelope as her pay, she wrote her mother a letter on a paper sack
Also Frieda's mom told that her and Lorene would go to the trash dump and look for old tobacco sacks (bull duram smoking tobacco came in a small cloth bag) they would sew them together and make things from them
Vivian (Chatmon) Backes told me a story that her dad (Thomas Chatmon) told her
In 1937 when he was seven years old they moved to Arizona from Kentucky, there was his dad Parlon, his mother Gwen, him self, his brothers Paul 5 years old, Leamon 2 years
old and Virgil Gamblin
They were in a old vehicle made by Star, which had a canvas top, somewhere along the way the wind blew the top off, Thomas said Gwen put a old quilt on for a top, Thomas told Vivian they looked like a bunch of gypsies, one night along the trip there car broke down in northern Arizona they had to spend the night in that car and it snowed during the night, the next morning after day light Virgil was able to make a part for the distributor cap from a bus token it ran long enough to finish the trip
Thomas said they stayed about a year and during that time he had to go to kindergarten.
He had gone to first grade in Kentucky but they made him go to kindergarten in Arizona so as far as he was concerned it was a wasted year
From what Delila and Frieda can remember Pap (Buck Harrison Barbee) and Granny (Minerva Orange) moved from Kentucky to Cottonwood about 1941
It seems Clarence and Celesta had planed going to Kentucky to get them at the last minute Clarence could not get off work, Estel went in his place, sounds like all the kids except Mryna who was not born yet went with them, they say pap held Frieda on his lap the whole trip and she wiggled the whole trip (some things don't change) he named her bottley because he could say bothersome, they say Lindle cried all the way back, it was later discovered fly spray had been spilled on his stack of diapers.
FRIEDA (GAMBLIN) WILLIAMS
JIM WILLIAMS
BIOGRAPHY II:
THE KENTUCKIANS
First let me explain where the money came from. The man that was killed in the coal mines was Alonzo Gamblin's son-in-law. His name was Hiaram Hocker. He was married to Ella Mae, Alonzo's daughter. Ella was 23 years old and dying, the final stages of TB. Hiram went to work one morning and by 10:00 he was dead. A large slab fell from the cieling of the tunnel and crushed him. He worked for the Peabody coal company and had a life insurance policy with Ella Mae as the beneficiary. Ella died 3 days later without ever knowing Hiram had been killed. They never told her. She was pretty much in a coma by then. Alonzo being her closest next of kin recieved the benefits. I don't know how much it was, I think he never told anyone.
Mrs. Gamblin, Alonzo's wife, my dads mother, had died of TB and 2 of my dad's brothers and then Ella. The doctor told Alonzo that he had better get what was left of his family to Arizona or he wouldn't have a family left. Alonzo bought a big truck, probably one from the mining company as the mines were shutting down and started making the plans to leave. As the mines was shutting down, none of the men had work and there were rumors that the copper mines in Arizona were hiring, so everyone got in on the trip. It was a typical Grapes of Wrath story. According to my Mom, Celeste, there was 21 of them counting adults and children. They were 3 weeks on the road and camped out along side the road every night. Alonzo was in charge as it was his truck and money. He was the patriarch and his word was law. I'm sure the other couples had some money of thier own but it was primarily Alonzo that financed the trip.
This is what I have been told as to who all came. Alonzo was married to my mother's Aunt Inez, she was a Barbee by birth, a sister to Buck Barbee, my moms dad. That made Alonzo a stepfather to George, Verde, Eunice, Lorene and Fairy and they were my mother's first cousins by blood. The list below is the best to my knowledge.
Alonzo and Inez
Clarence and Celeste
Elstle Gamblin (Alonzo's son) he was 13
Fairy (Inez's daughter) she was 14
George and Irene
Melvin and Lorene
Welby and Eunice
Rollie and Verda
The rest would have been children. I would guess that McKinley was with them and Ben Ray was a baby. Melvin and Lorene had Forrest and he was a baby. Welby and Eunice had a daughter. She died here in Arizona and I believe her name was Dorothy. Rollie and Verda had Paul and Wayne. That would be 21.
Alonzo was very tight with the money, food and water. If you think about it he had to be. He had the reputation of being a tyrant by all the family but he had 21 human lives to be responsible for. He rationed out food and water. The water was for drinking and cooking plus the old truck would have heated up and they never knew how far to the next water source. I would have been stingy with it, too. Mom said they did stop a couple of times at one of those old Motor Courts so everyone could get a bath, clean up, do some laundry, wash the babies and thier diapers, rest and give the old truck some repairs and rest.
Like I said, it was a Grapes of Wrath story.
Alonzo had a son Virgil, but he did not come on that trip but did come out later. Also he had another daughter, Gwendella that was married to Parlon Chatman and they did come out here at a later date but did not stay. They went back to Kentucky in a hurry. Neither one could stand this dry desert.
When they got here they first came into Globe, a mining town down in southern Arizona. They were'nt hiring so they came up here to the Verde Valley, hoping to get on in Jerome. It was October of 1929. The stock market crashed and the great depression hit. It was a hard time and they all almost starved to death.
If I think of any more I will write it.
SOURCE:
DELILA (GAMBLIN)WHITE,
FAMILY MAKES HISTORIC MOVE OUT OF KENTUCKY COAL MINING COMMUNITY:
In 1929 Alonzo Gamblin moved his family and several shirt tail relatives to Arizona, this group consisted of 22 people including adults, children and at least one newlywed couple (Clarence and Celesta were wed the day before they left and had not been alone since the wedding)
Al these people were all in a 1928 Ford truck with a stake bed, the younger guys cut hickory saplings bent them in a bow and covered it with canvas, Celesta said it looked like a covered wagon' I don't suppose they had much stuff, but they would have had at least a ,bag of clothes each, from pictures I have seen of old trucks even what they called big trucks then were not very big
I know they left Kentucky on Oct 6th and have been told by more than one that they didn't get to Arizona until Oct 29th can you imagine traveling for 23 days.
Frieda can remember her mom saying that on at least one night Alonzo rented a old house for the night somewhere along the way, Frieda's mom also told her the way Alonzo got money was from his daughter Ella, her husband Hiram Hocker was killed in the mines, at time he was killed Ella was on her death bed with T.B., she died 3 days after him without knowing that he had died, he got a small sum of money from the mines which eventually went Alonzo
I have been told Alonzo would not allow any water to be carried on the truck.
I am going to list the people as I have been told
Alonzo Gamblin age 47, Inez Gamblin age 39, Fairy Malone age 12 [ Inez's daughter Alonzo's step daughter], Clarence Gamblin age 18, Celesta Gamblin age 16, Virgil Gamblin age 15, Estal Gamblin age 12, Rollie Crick age 26, Verta Crick age 23, Paul Crick age 6, Evert Crick age 1, Melvin Dukes age 22 Melvin lived to be 104 years old, Melvin later said they ate a lot of bologna and pork and beans on that trip he also told about them breaking down in the desert and he took the water bucket and walked what he thought was about a mile but it turned out to be so far that he drank most of the bucket on the way back, some say he was the truck driver but several dispute this, Lorene Dukes age 17, Forest Dukes age1, Willby Hogan age 19 most say he drove the truck all the way and was sick all the way, when they got there he went to the Doctor and had appendicitis, Eunice Hogan age 14 and was pregnant with Dorothy Willby, George Malone, Irene Malone, Ben Malone, Mammie Willoughby, McKinley Willoughby
Most of you have seen the Movie Grapes of Wrath; I bet that seemed like a Sunday picnic compared to this trip
When they got there they could not find work and liked to starve, Vivian Backes pointed out that Oct 29 the day they got there was black Tuesday the day the stock market crashed
After they had been there a couple of months Celesta still had not been able to write her mother, some lady hired Celesta to clean her house and wash dishes, she gave her a stamp and envelope as her pay, she wrote her mother a letter on a paper sack
Also Frieda's mom told that her and Lorene would go to the trash dump and look for old tobacco sacks (bull duram smoking tobacco came in a small cloth bag) they would sew them together and make things from them
Vivian (Chatmon) Backes told me a story that her dad (Thomas Chatmon) told her
In 1937 when he was seven years old they moved to Arizona from Kentucky, there was his dad Parlon, his mother Gwen, him self, his brothers Paul 5 years old, Leamon 2 years
old and Virgil Gamblin
They were in a old vehicle made by Star, which had a canvas top, somewhere along the way the wind blew the top off, Thomas said Gwen put a old quilt on for a top, Thomas told Vivian they looked like a bunch of gypsies, one night along the trip there car broke down in northern Arizona they had to spend the night in that car and it snowed during the night, the next morning after day light Virgil was able to make a part for the distributor cap from a bus token it ran long enough to finish the trip
Thomas said they stayed about a year and during that time he had to go to kindergarten.
He had gone to first grade in Kentucky but they made him go to kindergarten in Arizona so as far as he was concerned it was a wasted year
From what Delila and Frieda can remember Pap (Buck Harrison Barbee) and Granny (Minerva Orange) moved from Kentucky to Cottonwood about 1941
It seems Clarence and Celesta had planed going to Kentucky to get them at the last minute Clarence could not get off work, Estel went in his place, sounds like all the kids except Mryna who was not born yet went with them, they say pap held Frieda on his lap the whole trip and she wiggled the whole trip (some things don't change) he named her bottley because he could say bothersome, they say Lindle cried all the way back, it was later discovered fly spray had been spilled on his stack of diapers.
FRIEDA (GAMBLIN) WILLIAMS
JIM WILLIAMS
BIOGRAPHY II:
THE KENTUCKIANS
First let me explain where the money came from. The man that was killed in the coal mines was Alonzo Gamblin's son-in-law. His name was Hiaram Hocker. He was married to Ella Mae, Alonzo's daughter. Ella was 23 years old and dying, the final stages of TB. Hiram went to work one morning and by 10:00 he was dead. A large slab fell from the cieling of the tunnel and crushed him. He worked for the Peabody coal company and had a life insurance policy with Ella Mae as the beneficiary. Ella died 3 days later without ever knowing Hiram had been killed. They never told her. She was pretty much in a coma by then. Alonzo being her closest next of kin recieved the benefits. I don't know how much it was, I think he never told anyone.
Mrs. Gamblin, Alonzo's wife, my dads mother, had died of TB and 2 of my dad's brothers and then Ella. The doctor told Alonzo that he had better get what was left of his family to Arizona or he wouldn't have a family left. Alonzo bought a big truck, probably one from the mining company as the mines were shutting down and started making the plans to leave. As the mines was shutting down, none of the men had work and there were rumors that the copper mines in Arizona were hiring, so everyone got in on the trip. It was a typical Grapes of Wrath story. According to my Mom, Celeste, there was 21 of them counting adults and children. They were 3 weeks on the road and camped out along side the road every night. Alonzo was in charge as it was his truck and money. He was the patriarch and his word was law. I'm sure the other couples had some money of thier own but it was primarily Alonzo that financed the trip.
This is what I have been told as to who all came. Alonzo was married to my mother's Aunt Inez, she was a Barbee by birth, a sister to Buck Barbee, my moms dad. That made Alonzo a stepfather to George, Verde, Eunice, Lorene and Fairy and they were my mother's first cousins by blood. The list below is the best to my knowledge.
Alonzo and Inez
Clarence and Celeste
Elstle Gamblin (Alonzo's son) he was 13
Fairy (Inez's daughter) she was 14
George and Irene
Melvin and Lorene
Welby and Eunice
Rollie and Verda
The rest would have been children. I would guess that McKinley was with them and Ben Ray was a baby. Melvin and Lorene had Forrest and he was a baby. Welby and Eunice had a daughter. She died here in Arizona and I believe her name was Dorothy. Rollie and Verda had Paul and Wayne. That would be 21.
Alonzo was very tight with the money, food and water. If you think about it he had to be. He had the reputation of being a tyrant by all the family but he had 21 human lives to be responsible for. He rationed out food and water. The water was for drinking and cooking plus the old truck would have heated up and they never knew how far to the next water source. I would have been stingy with it, too. Mom said they did stop a couple of times at one of those old Motor Courts so everyone could get a bath, clean up, do some laundry, wash the babies and thier diapers, rest and give the old truck some repairs and rest.
Like I said, it was a Grapes of Wrath story.
Alonzo had a son Virgil, but he did not come on that trip but did come out later. Also he had another daughter, Gwendella that was married to Parlon Chatman and they did come out here at a later date but did not stay. They went back to Kentucky in a hurry. Neither one could stand this dry desert.
When they got here they first came into Globe, a mining town down in southern Arizona. They were'nt hiring so they came up here to the Verde Valley, hoping to get on in Jerome. It was October of 1929. The stock market crashed and the great depression hit. It was a hard time and they all almost starved to death.
If I think of any more I will write it.
SOURCE:
DELILA (GAMBLIN)WHITE,
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