EVA JONES SPARKMAN

The following bio was taken from page 391 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Claudia Schuster

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

William Eugene Harris was born in Rusk County in 1872. He had no brothers or sisters. He married Lena Hudson and they had six children: Robert Allen, James (Dick), Mary Gladys, Lera, Marie Vasta, and William. When William was born, Lena died of childbed fever. After Lena’s death, Grandmother Hudson took William and he died within a month, in April, 1900.

Four months after Lena’s death, William married Nora Jones, age twenty-eight, daughter of Alexander and Emily Francis (Barker) Jones. They were married in the Jones’ home. For a good start the Jones family gave Nora and William twelve cows, four hogs, two feather beds, several quilts, feather pillows, a wardrobe, and a quiltbox. William and Nora both attended Rock Hill Institute in Minden and were raised in the same community. Nora moved in with William and his five children less than a mile from where she grew up. William’s mother, Mrs. John McCarter, kept Marie, who was a midget and also the youngest of the children. To this marriage were born: Herman, Eva Emily, Austin, Hazel, Elva, Janette, and Margie. Papa, as we children all called him or Papa Harris as his grandchildren later called him, served as Rusk County Commissioner for twelve years in Precinct 3. Except for Marie, we were all raised in Papa and Mama’s home. We had such a happy homelife. Papa did not allow the boys to drink or smoke. Mama taught her daughters to be real ladies and to make quilts, to sew, to embroider, to tat, to card cotton for quilts, to make soap, to cook, and to clean house.

One of my most memorable experiences as a child occurred one day when we were walking to school. I was eight years old at the time, and there were all my brothers and sister, several neighborhood children, and a black woman, Bertha Nichols, whose destination was on the same route as ours. All of a sudden we heard a loud roaring noise. Bertha said, "Lordy, children, that sounds like one of them cars I been hearing about." We all jumped the fence and hid behind the nearest bush. We watched the car go by and Bertha said, "Lordy! Lordy! Children, that is one of them cars I been hearing about" The car left a cloud of dust on the sandy unpaved road. That was our first look at an automobile.

I graduated from high school in Minden and attended Huntsville Teachers College. I earned a first grade certificate to teach and taught school one year at Chapman before I married. All my sisters and brothers graduated from Minden High School, and Elvan and Herman went on to college and became teachers.

Amos Jones, a farmer, and I were married August 26, 1923. Amos died of pneumonia in January of 1931.

I moved back in with Mama and Papa for about two years before marrying Monnie Elmer Sparkman, who the same year had lost his wife with pneumonia. He had two children, Billie Jo and Charlie (Jack) Jackson. We began our family with seven children. Monnie had trucks that he worked with in construction, and we also farmed. Amos had left me a hundred-acre farm that we still had to pay for and $1,000.00 in insurance. We raised crops of cotton and corn and always had a vegetable garden as well. We had cows, pigs, horses, and poultry. I remember once we had an old cow named "Old Blue" and she was as stubborn as they come. The two oldest boys, Jack and Carl, tried to milk her, but she kept running away and kicking at them. Finally Monnie got a rope, roped her, threw her down, sat on her backside, and milked her while all the kids and I laughed as we watched. It was a funny sight.

We lost two of our precious children, Jack, when he was seventeen, in a truck wreck, and Bill, when he was twenty-one, in an automobile wreck.

After Monnie and I married we had seven additional children: Bobby (Robert Elmer), John William (Buddy), Virginia, who died when just a few days old, Eva Lois, Gladys Marie, Charles Lynn, and Judy Nell.

Submitted by Eva Emily Harris Jones Sparkman