Below these recent pictures of myself are my
family story and old pictures.

Some of my recent pictures:


LIFE AT THE TROJAN


I don't remember the time when I was born, of course, but I do remember very early eventsin my life. At the time I was born, Mother and Dad lived in a little two room house located, south ofMuskogee, OK, at a place they called the "Trojan", after the coal mine that Dad was running. Wewere a several miles off the highway. I was told that Dad spent a lot of time getting the old Fordrunning and was always checking to see if it would start so that when the time came, he could takeMom to the Baptist Hospital in Muskogee where I could arrive in a proper environment. It happened on December 22, 1936. The picture at top is of the Burdett branch of my family. I amfront center between my grandparents wearing "overhalls" as they were called by kids. My Mom ison the left in the center row and Dad is on the left of the back row.

The first thing I remember is being around the house, about the age of two. It had norunning water, electricity, gas, or plumbing. However, we did have something no one else aroundhad. Dad told that when the man came to drill the well for us, he used his divining rod and followedit around until he came to a spot about 30 or 40 yards from the proposed location of the house andmarked his "X" to drill for water. Dad told him he didn't want it there and walked to the locationwhere the front porch was to be and marked another "X" on the ground there. We were the onlypeople I ever knew of who had their well on the front porch. It had a long slender metal tube witha hook at the top that you could pull after you had lifted it up out of the well, using rope and pulley,and release the water to fall out the bottom into a basin or bucket. That was a fascinating thing tome.

Around the right side of the house from the front, was a big platform scales for weighingtrucks or wagons loaded with coal. The mechanicals were inside a window facing the scales. Mother would weigh various vehicles, trucks or wagons pulled by teams, after they had been downinto the pit to load up. Small businesses and private individuals bought coal for home and work. Itwas used for heat in iron pot bellied stoves. We had one in our house.

Me beside our home.
You can see the shop in the background.

Before I was born, Mother taught at a nearby one-room school house called Conley. (Thespelling is dubious.) I remember a tale she told whenever she would make biscuits. Her processwas to roll the dough out on the cabinet and use the cap off the Calumet Baking Powder can to cutout the biscuits. After making all she could, there would be some extra dough left around the boardin little triangles. She would wad all that up into a ball and flatten it with her hands, making a superlarge odd shaped biscuit. She would say, "That's J.D.'s biscuit." She did that long after we hadmoved away from the Trojan. Her explanation was that during the depression, times were so hardthat many barely had enough to eat and often didn't get three meals a day. As they ate their lunch atnoon at Conley school, one boy, J.D., seldom had any. So at breakfast, Mom would pack somethingextra for him.

We are trying to find more about William Burdett, who was born in Belmont Co. ofOhio in 1818 and lived in West Virginia after serving in the Civil war. He is buried in Jackson Co., WV.

Go to part two, Warner

Go to part three, Porum NEW!

Go here to see a portion of the Burdett family tree.

Go here to see some of my family pictures.

If you want to read more, you can e-mail mehere.

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