MARY MALINDA "MOLLIE" MULLINAX WEBB

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Mary Melinda Mullenax was born in Maysville, Georgia on May 22, 1872. [Webmaster's note: Someone later changed her birth date to May 21, 1874 on this manuscript.] When she was a very young girl she developed rheumatism.  She was bedridden most of the time but occasionally was able to get up and move about.  On one of these occasions she got her father’s hoe and went out to a field of cotton right beside the house and played hoeing cotton.  She enjoyed doing this and did so frequently.  The exercise was good for her and she began to get better.  When she began having children it would bother her because she would have to stay in bed for a few days and not get proper exercise.

When she was a little older her father and stepmother moved to (the panhandle of) Texas.  Her grandmother, Nancy Black, asked her if she wanted to go with them or stay with her and she chose to stay.  They heard from them for awhile but then the letters stopped coming.  It was thought that maybe Indians or a tornado killed them.

Mary Melinda married Thomas Marcus Webb (on May 5, 1889)[Webmaster's note: Jackson County marriage records record the date of marriage as May 4, 1890.] when she was sixteen.  When she was 18, Lena, her first child, was born.  They had seven more children after her (Essie, Willie, Abner, George, Alphaeus, Tommy and Mollie).

In 1901, a man arrived in Georgia to recruit families to move to Texas.  Thomas was an adventurous person so they loaded up their belongings and moved by train to Texas.  The children heard that money grew on trees there so as soon as the train stopped, they hustled out to look around.  Someone found a nickel or penny and they were sure the stories were true.

The family rented a place in Henderson for a few weeks until a farm was found for rent in the Chapman community east of Henderson.  After one crop on that farm, a large plantation was purchased in the Bethel community.  This was their home for about twelve to fifteen years.  Crops grown on the fertile land were good until the boll weevils came.  This farm was bordered by Shawnee Creek.  The older children—Lena, Essie, Willie and Abner—would set out the hooks while Tom was plowing and go back the next day to take the fish off.  They would have a string of fish so long they couldn’t carry them; so they would drag them to the house.  The fish that touched the ground would have to be thrown away.

When old enough to pick cotton on the plantation in Bethel, the children would head to the old farmhouse to empty their cotton sacks.  One day while headed to do just that, the dogs went on ahead of the children into the old house.  Lena and Abner were following the dogs, and Essie and Willie headed to the spring to get a drink of water.  Something attacked the dogs inside the old house and a vicious battle occurred.  Lena and Abner ran away while Essie and Willie were running towards the house, not knowing what the commotion was about.  Lena and Abner yelled for them to get back and they all went a long way out of their way to get home.  The children never knew what attacked their dogs but the dogs were almost unrecognizable when they returned home.

In 1911, the Bethel plantation was sold and the family moved back to Georgia.  A boxcar was rented to move all of their belongings, including a single and double-seated buggy.  During this time, Lena married Alfred Clark and Rena Faye was born.  They moved also but didn’t stay as long as the rest of the family [editor’s note: This probably refers to Lena and her new husband and child not staying long in Texas before coming back to Georgia].

The family settled in Holly Springs (community in Georgia), which consisted of a Methodist church, a general store and a blacksmith shop.  A farm was rented for two years before the family decided to move again.

In January of 1914, the Webbs, Eckols, Pruitts, Thompsons and Smiths, five Jackson County, Georgia families, set out to move to South Georgia.  Their horses and teams would be needed when they arrived at their destination, so the families formed a wagon train of covered wagons and started out one Monday morning about dawn.

Mary Melinda decided not to go on the wagon train since her health was not good at the time.  Taking Mollie, Willie, Tommy and Essie with her, Mary Melinda went by rail as far as Waycross.  There she stopped to visit Uncle Frank Webb and wait on the family wagon train.  Uncle Frank met them with two buggies to take them to his house.  He drove one and Essie drove the other.  Frank warned Essie to be careful as sometimes the rim came off the buggy’s wheel and if that happened, the mule would run away.  It was so dark she couldn’t see the road, so Essie gave the mule the reigns and let him pick his own way.  Uncle Frank’s home was located back in the woods quite a distance from town.  Aunt Pearl was so glad to see them because she hardly ever got any visitors.  It was several days before Tom and the others arrived with the wagons.

Mary Melinda worried about Alphaeus and Abner, the two younger children.  At last they arrived one night just after dark—tired and weary—but well.  However, Mrs. Smith had stayed in Atlanta with her daughter until Mr. Smith could find a house.  The families rested up a day or two while Tom visited with his brother.  Mary Melinda would not go any further by rail without the boys so all of them joined the wagon train for the rest of the journey.

After traveling all day, the families made camp at sundown.  The children clamored out of the wagons hoopin’ and hollerin’ after having been in them all day.  The night’s rest was enjoyable but at dawn they were on their way again.  Traveling was a pleasure because the country was so pretty.  It was flat and fertile land—so different from the hills of North Georgia.

The second night they camped near the Okmulgee River.  The women fried meat and hoe cakes on a bed of coals, which was enjoyed with bacon and syrup.  After supper while sitting around the campfire, two men were noticed coming down the road toward camp.  These men were named Mr. Flemmings and Mr. Bonie.  Mr. Bonie lived up the hill from the river and Mr. Flemmings was staying with Mr. Bonie for the winter.  Mrs. Bonie had moved across the river to Fitzgerald so the children could go to school during the winter months.  Mr. Flemmings and Tom had known each other in their younger days so they enjoyed getting together again.  The water was too high for them to cross safely, so the family was invited to stay with Mr. Bonie for a few days.  Later, when they arrived at his place, Mr. Bonie had just finished killing hogs and was grinding sausage.  That night the families enjoyed fresh meat courtesy of Mr. Bonie.  Mrs. Eckols asked Mr. Bonie for the kidneys.  Essie remembers being surprised by that because she didn’t know anyone ate them until then.

Their bedding was carried in and made down on the floor.  It was a sight to behold to see five families spread out across the floor.  Each family made one long bed and slept together.

When the river went down, Mr. Bonie felt it safe enough to cross.  The ferry carried them across the river but there were still three bad sloughs in the wagon road to cross.  Mr. Bonie drove the front wagon and Mr. Flemmings drove for Tom.  His team was so fiery they would run away if frightened.  Mr. Thompson was driving two big, white horses and Mr. Bonie suggested that Tom’s mules should follow those horses.  He said if they got off the main road, the wagons would float down the river and be drowned.  The first two sloughs were crossed and as the front wagons passed through the third slough, someone screamed.  One wagon had lost a feed trough and one of the women had lost a coat.  As they looked back, these items were seen floating downstream.  Mr. Smith was in the rear and his mule was about to drown.  He couldn’t move as the wagons ahead of him had stopped.  Finally they straightened up and went on through without injury.  Mr. Bonie and Mr. Flemmings stayed with them until they were safely over the dangerous places.  It was not known how those two got back to their place unless they had a boat tied up somewhere on the river.

After traveling all day, the family arrived in Fitzgerald—one of the prettiest towns they had ever seen.  They traveled on until time to make camp.  The place chosen was what was thought to be a school house.  It was cold that night and they were happy to find a building to stay in.  There was a heater so a fire was built and supper started.  Some of the boys went out into the yard and began ringing the bell.  The women sent some of the boys out to buy butter.  The boys returned saying that everyone around was black people.  After supper as everyone was laughing and talking, one of the young boys stood up behind the podium and said, “Usually the Lord occupies the pulpit but this is one night the devil is in charge.”  About that time the door opened and a Negro man and his wife stepped in and said, “What does this mean—polluting the house of God?”  Every man jumped to his feet and grabbed his gun.  They told them they were not gypsies, but were just traveling through on their way south.  One woman started crying and said, “We are just going down to South Georgia to make our little children a living.”  Tom talked with the man and discovered that his father was a slave under Tom’s grandfather.  After that, they begged them to stay but everyone was afraid so they loaded up and traveled until late that night before making camp.  Mr. Smith must have really been scared as he brought his cot and put it close to Tom’s wagon tongue.  Everyone was tense that night because they didn’t know what to expect.

The families traveled all the next day and reached Tifton late that afternoon.  My, what excitement!  The people ran out on the street to see the “Yankees.”  The townspeople thought they were from one of the northern states instead of North Georgia.  As they traveled through the city and on to the plantation, they saw people with barrels of fire in their wagons to keep warm.  It was cold to the locals but the families on the wagon train thought it was warm compared to colder, North Georgia weather.

Finally they reached their destination.  The house sat back from the road and was not exactly what the family had expected, but with Mary Melinda’s touch and the children’s help, the place was soon looking like home.  Only one year was spent there before it was time to move back to North Georgia.

This time the family rented a farm in Danielsville.  This only lasted two years before the family decided to sell their furniture and belongings and move back to Texas.  The place they rented this time was about a mile up the road from where they lived before in Texas.  The family lived there for two years until they bought a place out on West Fordall past the current location of Lake Forest Park.

After two years there, the family bought a farm in Pone.  Tom repaired an old building and helped get a church started in the community.

When they were 20 and 22, respectively, Essie and Willie stopped working the crops on the farm and went to work in Henderson.  Willie worked for E. B. Alford Dept. Store and Essie worked for him in the millinery shop.  She later worked for G. P. Futch.  While at the millinery shop she was given a cheap hat frame to work with (the owner was afraid to give her an expensive one).  She picked out some flowers and net to decorate it and then it was put on display.  A customer came in and said, “There’s my hat!  There’s my hat!”  The owner was so pleased that he put her to work making more hats.

While working there, Willie met Robbie Beall and started dating.  She moved to Shreveport, Louisiana for a while to room with a former neighbor and worked in a department store.  Robbie had opened up an army surplus store by this time.  They got married and Willie helped in the store until Robbie Jr. came along.  They had four other children: Royce, Ray, Mary and Billie Sue.

Alphaeus was next to marry.  He married Lorene Hudson from the Compton community.  They lived in Pone a while before moving to Henderson.  Their children were Maurice (Chick) and Bobbie Jean.

Essie and some church women went to Longview for a Sunday school conference, and on the way back, stopped in Henderson to buy some candy at the Candy Kitchen where Van Hudson (second cousin to Lorene) worked.  Even though Essie already knew him from community activities, she had never dated him.  She thought he was the best looking man she had ever seen.  He carried her home that night and a romance followed, leading to a marriage and six children (James, Jack, Betty, M. V., Jan and Patsy).

Abner was next and he chose Affie Bradford, a girl from Sweet Gum.  They lived in Henderson and had two children, Gerry and Kay.

Tommy and Ruth Hensly from Marshall were the next ones.  They lived on the family farm and had five children (Rex, Nell, Tommy Gene, Barbara Lynn and Glenda).  He was really innovative.  He built a generator to furnish them with electricity during a time when no one else around had it.

Next was the baby, Mollie.  The family had rented out the farm and moved to Grange Hall to start a dairy with John Alford.  While living there, Mollie taught school, met Rufus Dinkle and married.  They had a daughter named Sandra.

After several years they moved back to the farm at Pone.  Tom opened a grocery store but later sold it.  Tom and Mary Melinda stayed there until she died on October 26, 1942.  He built a place near the highway and lived there until he died on Sept. 31, 1944.

Page last updated 10/20/2007

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