Hard Work and Sacrifice

Hard Work and Sacrifice Gma and Gpa Richardson

My Grandpa and Grandma Richardson were loving, hardworking people. I have heard my grandpa tell stories of places and times he has worked and also heard my mom tell stories about her parents.

John Lotus Richardson and Laura Mae Boyd were married April 27, 1919, north of Bradleyville at the place where Pauline Lee now lives.

Grandma was a schoolteacher at Oak Ridge schoolhouse, a one room schoolhouse that is located up what is now known as Martin Road, north of Bradleyville.

I always heard the story that Grandpa was dared by his friends to ask the new schoolteacher to ride out with him on a date, so he did. I imagine there was never a dare that Grandpa wouldn't take. He was quite a man, or boy at that time. He was 4 1/2 years younger than Grandma.

Anyway, they suited each other and they got married and raised a family of four girls and a boy. They lost four other children, by miscarriage and newborn death. Two of the babies they lost were twins. I always heard it was a boy and girl but some family members say it was two boys. 

My mom said when she was little and they lived near Garrison, Grandpa had a job that was around six miles away. He walked there every morning and back home every night, getting home after dark most of the time. Mom said you knew when he was getting close to home because you could hear him whistling. Work was scarce and many had to leave home or travel a distance to get to their job. Grandpa always did what he had to do with a cheerful attitude.

Mom told me a story one time about Grandma Laura making all her sisters and her new dresses for Easter. She may have made them from feed sacks, not sure if it was or she had fabric, but she didn't have enough thread, so she would unravel the fabric scraps and use the thread from the fabric to sew the dresses together. 

Grandma and Grandpa worked together sometimes. One of the jobs they did together was cut railroad ties. Grandpa would saw the trees down, probably with a crosscut saw, and then Grandma and he would shape the sides with a broad ax. One time in particular they worked a long time getting a load of ties ready to sell. They took off in their old truck from Garrison  and had at least ten flats before they got to Chadwick where they would sell them. When they finally got to the tie yard, they found out they had cut all the ties one inch too short and were docked for that mistake. They got only ten cents apiece for that load of ties.

More later.

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