Kennybrough and Verna Barnes McDowell Family History

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

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Fifth Move

Then daddy sold his mules and bought a tractor, a 1929 John Deere 10-20, and the family moved to the Reynolds place located 5 miles northeast of Tulia, Texas.

It was a 5 room house on 160 acres of farmland. We had a descent group growing milo, sudan (we used it for hay) and corn. Mother had a good garden that year also. We did this twice a day, a couple of hours at a time. Joy was in the 2nd grade and Bill and I started the 1st. grade at Valley View School, it was 7 miles to school We borrowed an old gray mare from Uncle Austin Glenn and rode her to school, first we had her pulling a 2 wheel cart, and she would run away with it , so we had to ride her. The second year, daddy bought a 1929 Model A Ford, and mother would take us to school. Mother went door to door selling McConnan ( not sure of the spelling) products, (similar to Watkins or Raleigh products). It was Bill and my job to milk the cows, and one was hard to milk so Bill got her and I did the rest.

We had about 5 or 6 milk cows and then in 1936 the drought happened and we couldn't grow much. In the summer we would herd the cows along the side of the road so they would have something for them to eat. (best known as the dust bowl era) There was no rain, but lots of wind and dirt. Daddy and Uncle John had built a chicken house and one night the wind got up so hard, that the next morning the dirt was so deep that it nearly covered the back of that chicken house. The dirt covered up all the crops growing in the fields. From that time on, daddy had to find work, working by the day, doing what ever he could find.

NOTE: Bill McDowell's memories

When Dad got that tractor  he would drive it and Bob and I would drive a team of horses we borrowed from the neighbor, Aden Glenn, to pull the go-devil to weed the maize and cotton. One of the horses was call diamond. Bob and I would feed him in a stall in the barn. One time we got a long stick five or six feet long and would stick the horse with it. He would kick and we thought it was fund .  Elvin picked up a stick 6 or 8 inches long and ran up and stuck the horse. Elvin got kicked in the head . Mother got  Mrs Glenn to drive her to the Dr .to sew his head up. We built a chicken house out of old five quart oil cans we found at the dump. . We cut out both ends and splitthe cans  and used them like shingles  for the sides.. It worked very well but we had problems with the rats eating the baby chicks. While living there Dad worked for a Mr.Bell from sun up to dark for one dollar a day driving a tractor.

The Glenns took a trip and left Bob and I to feed and care for the chickens.  One of us had to carry a stick to fight off an old rooster they had, he would attack us.

Riding that seven miles to school in below zero weather we would almost freeze to death.. We stopped at the Fosters on the way to warm up.  After the horse died we had to walk home sometimes after school. Long walk for small kids. The school was a two room school, first through the sixth in one room seventh and eighth in the other. The teachers were Mr. and Mrs. Rose.

Sixth move

In the fall of 1937 we moved into Tulia, Texas, into the house owned my a lady named Livingston. It was a little 3 room house, no inside plumbing. Daddy worked for the state highway department for awhile, then did odd jobs, doing what ever he could to support the family. Joy stayed home and helped mother and took care of Elvin, growing a garden etc.

Bill and I did yard jobs, cleaned out chicken houses, and I helped granddaddy with his dairy milking cows. We got jobs chopping cotton in the summer for 10 cents a row, (they were quarter mile long) making about 70 cents a day. After school and on Saturdays we would ride our bicycle ( we had one bicycle, both of us peddled, Bill put his feet on the inside and I put mine on the outside) out to pick cotton. The pay was 50 cents per 100 lbs that was pulled. We had to pull a cotton sack about 9 feet long to hold about 90 lbs, then weighed it and dump it into a wagon.

In the fall of 1937 we moved into Tulia, Texas, into the house owned my a lady named Livingston. It was a little 3 room house, no inside plumbing. Daddy worked for the state highway department for awhile, then did odd jobs, doing what ever he could to support the family. Joy stayed home and helped mother and took care of Elvin, growing a garden etc.

Bill and I did yard jobs, cleaned out chicken houses, and I helped granddaddy with his dairy, milking cows. We got jobs chopping cotton in the summer for 10 cents a row, (they were quarter mile long) making about 70 cents a day. After school and on Saturdays we would ride our bicycle ( we had one bicycle, both of us peddled, Bill put his feet on the inside and I put mine on the outside) out to pick cotton. The pay was 50 cents per 100 lbs that was pulled. We had to pull a cotton sack about 9 feet long to hold about 90 lbs, then weighed it and dump it into a cotton trailer.

Daddy got Bill a job with Dole Hooten at Kafer Switch, north of Tulia about 5-6 miles, milking cows and going to school. I think he worked there 2 years. I was milking cows for granddaddy and helping deliver milk to customers all over town. It was rough for a kid to get up at 5 a m and milk the cows, bottle the milk and go to school, especially in the winter time.

Seventh Move

We then moved to the Thompson place 2 miles north of Tulia, Texas., into a 3 room house. We had about 15 acres of grass, cowpens and a chicken house. We lived there about 1 year. Grand daddy borrowed a stock trailer to move us back into town.

Eighth Move

We moved back into the Livingston house. The people who had lived there for one year, named Rickets, had a pedal(White brand) sewing machine. Mother and I purchased it from them $12 dollars. Mother put in $6 and I put in $6. (We still have that sewing machine). I got the money from selling a hog that I owned. This machine made it so much easier for mother to keep us kids in clothing, patching our clothes, help in making quilts. All of us kids learn to sew using this machine.

Brief history of Kenny and Verna McDowell by Bobby Lee McDowell

Grand daddy sold his dairy and bought a help yourself laundry, located west about a block and a half from the old bank building. He had Maytag wringer wash machines either 6 or 8 in clusters of 4.( washing machine and 3 galvanized tubs to a cluster).

Brief history of Kenny and Verna McDowell by Bobby Lee McDowell

n 1940 I drove tractor for Ray Bivins in during harvest and after harvest, plowed, did some wheat planting. I also pulled the binder with the tractor cutting feed.

In 1941 I worked milking cows for Buster Hall and did some farming.

Mom gave birth to another set of twins, Carolyn and Leland. Daddy was doing farm work and other odd jobs.

Note: Bill McDowell's memories

When Carolyn and Leland were born Dad was working for the R.E.A. Dad left early that morning  and about time for school to start mother had one of us to go get Granddad and then go on to school Joy was to stay home with her. That evening I remember walking into the house and mother was in bed . She ask me if I wanted to see my new baby sister and I said yes, she showed her to me and I started to leave and she said wait there is another one, then she showed me Leland.  I don't remember even knowing she was going to have another baby, but I took Carolyn as being my responsibility. I bathed her ,changed her,  fed her and hung a lot of diapers on the line. I remember hanging some out when they would freeze stiff before you could get them hung..  This would come in handy knowing how to do that when my little ones came along. It was while we lived here that airplanes would land in the pasture at the Bivens place just east of our house.  Bob and I would also go fishing in the Bivens creek.  Bob and I would also try to get the old Ford to run we pushed  it all over the place.

Dad as well as Uncle John worked on the railroad at one point but didn't stay with it long due to it being such hard work.  It was while we lived here that Bob and I hitched hike all over the place. . Mother had not seen her parents in seven years  so she took Joy and Elvin and rode the bus to see them in Wheeler, Bob and I stayed home with Dad. Dad was working on the highway at the time  so we were home all day alone. The peaches were ripe and falling from the trees so Bob and I decided we would can them which we did in the pressure cooker. They kept too. After Mother got home Dad told Bob and I we could go see Aunt Wynine  We put some clothes in a paper bag, got out on the highway and hitched a ride to Tahoka. We were nine years old. She wouldn't let us hitch a ride home she bought a ticket and put us on the bus. Bob and I were always hitching a ride to Amarillo fair. Maybe with $.25 in our pockets

Ninth move

We moved to Salem, Texas which is located 20 miles northeast of Tulia, Texas. It was a 4 room house with cowpens, and about 60 acres of grass. Daddy worked for John Spillman for $100 a month. Bill and I also worked in the fields along side the men. We bought a 1935 Dodge car for $100. to be able to get around in.

We had several milk cows and pigs, and Elvin would help take care of them.

The second year we were there I had a job working for Gene Snodgrass working for feed for the hogs. We raised 2 batches of hogs, (about 60 in each herd) and sold the first herd for a 1937 Chevrolet pickup.

NOTE: Bill McDowell's memories

I remember some things differently than Bob. In helping Granddaddy milk the cows I thought we milked at 4 in the morning and 4 in the evening. That is the way I milked when I worked for Rob Spillman later also. Bob and I bought us some Poland China hogs from the Adams but they died leaving us with a gain bill. We chopped weeds all over Tulia working out ours and Granddaddy's electric bills. Tulia had their own power plant at the time so we were workng for the city. I stayed with Mrs Harris at night a lot so she would not be by her self.She lived east of us.  I remember getting up ealry and walking across town in the dark to help with the milking

The bicycle, Bob and I bought it from John Tuttle's boy for $7.50. We soon learn how to fix the tires were they didn't go flat from goatheads. We would split an old tube or use an old tire and put it inside then put the tube in, that almost stopped the flats. I thought we got $.25 a hundred for picking the cotton. It took $.25 to get a hair cut so we would cut each others hair.

After we finished the seventh grade year I worked for a Leonad Grubbs for a while  and then took the job with Doyle Hooten.I drove a tractor ,milked cows, fed the hogs, carred for the chicken, cleaned house , chowed weeds and all kinds of work for the summer. When school started I stayed on there and went to school still caring for all the livestock. I got room and board and $7.50 a month.  I remember going home for Christmas that year and had to sleep with seven of us boys in the bed. I didn't do much sleeping. This was about the time Uncle John's first wife died and all of his kids where at our place. We only had 2 beds for us to sleep in, girls in one and boys in the other. I was ready to go back to work where I had only two in the bed. I only worked and lived with the Hootens for one full year. In May the next year I painted all summer for John Spillman. He wanted everything dark green. I painted barns ,houses, granaries..In the fall that year I worked for Timmons helping with harvest. I also attended Happy High school..

Granddady's first laundry was across the ally and down 4 or 5 doors west of the bank. There was a bakery next door and did it smell  GOOD. also a resteraunt. Joy worked in the resteraunt some. When Granddaddy built his new laundry it was across the street east of the city hall.