OUR EARLY MARRIED LIFE

Wilbur had a job hauling lumber to the railroad for Mr. J. L. Howe. He had a sawmill not too far from Mr. Mixson’s. Mr. Howe had two men that drove the truck, Wilbur and Bud Ellis. At that time he had his mill near Curtis Robbins old place. When he finished with that timber he moved the mill to Bronson. He used oxen to “snake” the logs out of the swamps to dryer land so the mules and log carts could get to them and haul them to the sawmill. We all moved the same day. We lived in the old turpentine still, in the best house there,

The others were just shacks, papered with newspaper. At first we stayed with Mr. Howe and his wife and two children. I did the cooking and furnished the food for one week and Mrs. Howe furnished the food for two weeks and I did the cooking. I sure learned a lot. We stayed there for about a year until Mr. Howe closed the mill again. We came back to Mr. Mixson’s for a few weeks, then moved into Henrys house, where we lived until Adrian was about to be born. Then moved to Papas. We stayed there until Adrian was six weeks then moved to Job Mixson’s old house. He and his family lived there until they moved to Ocala. It was a dark, dreary place. Oak trees with moss hanging in them shaded the whole place and made it dark and dreary.

Myrtice was born there, (Our sweet blue eyed, dark haired daughter). When she was nine months old we moved into our own home. Papa gave me 25 acres of land and Wilbur built our house with the help of Gilbert, his brother. It was made from an old barn. Wilbur and Gilbert hauled the lumber from the old Sistrunk place about 5 miles away with the horse and wagon. The house had two main rooms, with a shed room divided into two. One on the north end that we used for the kitchen and dining room. We warmed by the cookstove for the first year. He built the front porch Then the back porch. He planned the wood for the floor by hand plane.

When Morris was a few months old, Mr. Mixson died and three months later Myrtice died. James Darlington Mixson died March 12, 1928, Myrtice died May 13, 1928. <click to close> She took sick late one afternoon and before morning she was dead. The doctor called it acute colitis--we all took it--the children were real sick. Adrian was just six and Morris about a year old. After Myrtice died Adrian couldn’t wait until Morris got big enough to hold a car tire up to roll! That was a great plaything for him- -and when Morris finally did get strong enough and old enough to roll a tire, Adrian was so excited he called me to come see how Morris was doing. He was so little that he just could lift it up but Adrian was so proud and happy. At last he had someone to play with.

Letters to Wilbur in the Naval hospital in Pensacola from sons.
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Arnold was born when Morris was three--what a time I had those years! I prayed to God to give me understanding and the wisdom to help my dear husband. He went thru a depression, when he thought everyone and everything was against him. He got so he couldn’t bear to have me out of his sight. He was in the hospital six weeks when Adrian was twelve years old. Adrian and I tried to finish the corn and peanut crop--also we had cukes planted but they never did any good. Bill (my brother) hauled what we had to McIntosh to ship, but we had to quit--they just weren’t worth anything.