MORE PICTURES OF GRANDPA:
About the last picture taken of him before he passed away.
PARENTS: John Alogan BIAS and Mary HENSON
BORN: 10-26-1887 in Checotah, OK. I once thought he was born in Ozark Co., MO but Georgetta has proof it was in Checotah. That's where his mother's family were from.
DIED 11-10-1969 at Dugginsville, MO.
MARRIED: Amie Malinda FRIEND 4-12-1907 in Ozark Co., MO (I have the license). She was born 4-6-1889 in Peel, AR and died -1959 at home (in that old homeplace. Her parents were Elisha FRIEND and Amanda (Mandy) HENDERSON.
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE FRIEND FAMILY TREEMAKER PAGE
Mom said Grandpa told her he was named after a good friend his father had when in the Civil War.....John A. Logan. I found John A. Loga's page on the internet. He was responsible for the holiday Memorial Day. Interesting!!
My grandpa was the most special person in the world to me when I was little. I'd sit on his lap and watch him smoke his old pipe that smelled and swish away the smoke and listen to him tell me stories. Just about everywhere grandpa went, I went, when I wasn't in school. I wanted to spend all the time I could helping him in the garden and feeding the chickens, taking care of the hogs and cows and smoke meat in the smokehouse and help Granny (Amie FRIEND) make Lye soap. I don't know if I could call myself his "favorite" but we sure loved each other.
I only remember Grandpa spanking me one time. As we all know, money was tight when Grandpa grew up. He barely had enough to raise his family so he pinched pennies wherever he could. I was at his house (the old home place at Dugginsville, MO about half a mile from Bull Shoals Lake close to the Marion County, AR state line) and, as kids will do, I was playing and pretending. I was probably 5 at the time but I remember it like it was yesterday and tears are forming in my eyes as I write this.
I had gotten into the Mercurchrome (not sure if this is spelled right) and was pretending I had gotten hurt and was doctoring a pretend wound. He told me once to get out of it.....but I didn't. So when he caught me again, he spanked me. Well......I wasn't hurt, but you would have thought he had about killed me the way I cried and carried on. My FEELINGS were hurt, not my butt, because Grandpa NEVER spanked me before!!!!!
I went home crying my eyes out (we lived about half a mile up the hill). Daddy met me and asked what was wrong. I told him Grandpa spanked me for getting into the medicine and HE GOT MAD!!!! He said, "Come on. I'll take care of this! He'll never do it again!!!" He took me back to Grandpa's and yelled at him and told him to NEVER touch me again.
Grandpa saw my feelings were hurt so he pulled me onto his lap and hugged me then he said, "Grandpa will never spank you again.".....and I saw tears in his eyes. Even at 5 years old, I knew Grandpa meant what he said. And he never did spank me again....alhough I proably deserved one after that...:-)...It still moves me to tears each time I think about it or tell that story.
I wish I had listened to Grandpa's stories more now that I'm older because I don't remember too many of them.
I know he and Granny had a general store many years ago right in the back room of their house and that he used to jump freight trains and go to Oklahoma (around Muldrow, I think) to make some money to help raise the family. He also used to fix clocks. He'd go around to houses and fix them.....and while he was there, he'd ask them if they needed their eyes checked or glasses. He had ordered a kit to check eyes from a mail-order catalog and that's part of how he made a living for his family. I seem to remember that he also cut hair, but I may be mistaken about that.
There wasn't much money when Grandpa was raising his family so he did anything he could to make money to keep them fed. He drove a wagon and team of horses to Sparta, MO, about 75 miles or so from home to pick up supplies for Glenna and Violet JOHNSON's general store at Dugginsville. It had to have taken him at least all day to make that trip.
He also worked doing odd jobs for Joe LONG. He would often have only cornbread and coffee for breakfast then go cut brush or whatever Joe needed done.
Once he had a horse down and was trying to get it up before it died. The horse kicked a piece of lumber which came back and hit his leg. It almost broke it from what my aunt said, but grandpa didn't miss a day of work. I know that must have been hard to do.
When there wasn't enough work to do in the area he would often jump freight trains and go to where there was work. He had relatives in Muldrow, OK and went there a lot. That's where his mother, Mary HENSON-BIAS is buried.
Once he had a can of pork and beans, but nothing to eat it with. He sat down under a bridge and found an old spoon, beaten flat and dirty. He took it to the river and washed it, opened his beans and ate them. He took that spoon with him everywhere from then on, I guess. He had it when he died. It was his favorite spoon. He said, "It's flat on the bottom so I can scoop my food on it easier."
My grandpa was quite a guy. I loved him a lot and I miss him!
Grandpa sold the old home place to HOBART LEDBETTER when I was in grade school and had given Dad 20 acres where our house was built and Uncle Elva the land surrounding the house Uncle Elva lived in. Grandpa's old house and everything is gone now.....all except part of the rock fence where Granny used to have Poppie's and other flowers. I used to spend lots of time in those flowers touching the poppies and watching the seeds pop and fly all over. I can close my eyes right now and see just how everything was even though it's been about 40 years now. I used to cry every time I got close to these homeplaces at Dugginsville, but I have finally gotten thru it.
Grandpa moved up on Highway 160 (between Dugginsville and Theodosia) after he sold the home place. I don't think he ever was really happy there, but he lived there until he died in 1969, just a few months after my first daughter was born. I remember him being so sick and hardly knew where he was. It was so important to me that he hold my daughter that I placed her in his arms for just a minute. I remember his hands shaking as he held her, but I don't think he ever knew he held her because he died just a few days later.
Records show he died in Branson, MO, but he didn't. He died at his home on Hwy 160 between Theodosia and Dugginsville, MO. It was his wish that he die at home and it was granted.
I could tell lots of the good and some not so good memories of Grandpa, but I'll get on with the genealogy now...:-)
AND HERE'S GRANDPA AND GRANNIE BESIDE THE LOG HOUSE (8X10)
JOHN AND AMIE'S CHILDREN:
1. Obard Leonard (twin to Ethel Ray), b. 2-23-1908 in Dugginsville, MO, d. 3-27-1950. He married Rena Vergie HILLHOUSE 12-6-1927
She was the sister of Frank HILLHOUSE who marrried Ethel Ray, Leonard's twin. She was born 5-3-1910 and is still living. She lives in OK.
LEONARD AND RENA'S PICTURE HOLDING GEORGETTA
Leonard was very obese probably medically but true reason unknown. Before he died, his skin was so tight it is thought he may have died from complications in that manner. Dad talked to the doctor and he verified that possibility.
ETHEL RAY BIAS
2. Ethel Ray (Leonard's twin), b. 2-23-1908 in Dugginsville, MO, d. 10-23-1987 in a nursing home of Altzheimer's. Married Frank HILLHOUSE 11-27-1925 in Pontiac, MO (I saw license). Frank was born 3-29-1906 and died 3-20-1982, buried Hart Cemetery.
MARY LETHIAN BIAS
3. Mary Lethian (Uncle Mose nicknamed her Mildred), b. 11-16-1923 in Dugginsville, MO and is the only living sibling, married Olin HARLESS 9-28-1940. He was born _______ and died ______. He was the son of _____ and Mattie HARLESS. Mattie later married a CLARKSTON or CLARKSON. They were divorced and she married Woodrow (Chuck) CRAWFORD. He was born _____ in Mammoth, MO, and died _______. Buried Mammoth, MO, cemetery.
JAMES ELVA BIAS
4. James Elva, b. 2-26-1953 in Dugginsville, MO, d. 12-13-1974, married Thelma BEASLEY 9-25-1931. She was born _____ and died ____. She was the daughter of Si and _____ BEASLEY.
HERE'S A PICTURE OF HIM AND HIS WIFE, THELMA BEASLEY AND SON, EDDIE
OLLIE MYRTLE BIAS
5. Ollie Myrtle, b. 5-8-1917 in Peel, AR, d. 5-4-1989 in Muskogee, OK and is buried there, married Clifford McBRIDE ______. He was born __, and died __. He was the son of Charlie & ____ McBRIDE. He was killed in a pedestrian/car accident.
JOHN ALOGAN BIAS, JR., nicknamed J.R.
John Alogan, Jr. (called J.R.). This was my father. He was born 8-10-1927 in Dugginsville, MO, d. 10-21-1997, buried at Lutie Cemetery, Theodosia, MO. He married my mother, Thelma Lorene HAMPTON 9-2-1947 in Mountain Home, AR. She was born 5-21-1930 and is still living. Her parents were Oscar and Callie (ADAMS) HAMPTON.
CLICK HERE TO GO TO HAMPTON WEBSITE
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