FRANCES SMELLEY WHITMORE

The following bio was taken from page 446 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

I lived in Rusk County from the time I was ten years old until I was fifteen. This was one of the happiest and most memorable times of my life. I never in my life felt as "grown up" as I did at fifteen in Glenfawn.

My family and I moved to Glenfawn at Christmas time in 1917 from Appleby. We lived at the foot of the hill below the schoolhouse where Papa farmed. It was a short way to school, but it was a steep, steep hill to climb.

This was during World War I, and on Saturday afternoon people would gather at the schoolhouse for ice cream suppers and the sale of Liberty Bonds. Mama knitted sweaters for the soldier boys. This was when I learned how to knit.

One night going home from one of the suppers, I was riding in the wagon with my Uncle Buck and Aunt Etta Buckner with two of their children. All of a sudden, Uncle Buck stopped and told us to get out and look for Aunt Etta’s teeth that she had dropped. We found the teeth, but I was so shocked because I had no idea that Aunt Etta had teeth that could fall out!

The story that everyone enjoys most is the one about the time two of my bigger cousins, Sarah Buckner and Katie Risinger, started teasing me and I believed what they said. I must have really been naïve! One of my favorite places to spend the night was at Uncle Buck’s. Though the Buckners had a large family of children they could always put up one more. One time not only I but also an older boy that wasn’t quite bright were spending the night. The two girls, just a few years older than I, started to tease me by figuring out where everyone would sleep. It came out that I was to sleep with the boy. Well, I knew I wasn’t going to do that, so even though it was dark and two miles home, I started walking home. Then they sent Joe Buckner to scare me. He cut across through the woods to get ahead of me, put a white sheet over his head, and started making " ghostly" noises. Normally, I would have been scared to death, but tonight a ghost didn’t even faze me. It looked better to me than "he". Finally Joe had to come after me to say that they were only teasing me. Everyone enjoyed the joke except me, but I have really enjoyed telling it down through the years.

My folds were David Smelly (1871-1952) and Dollie Ann Swing (1872-1967). Mama was raised at New Salem and Papa came to Rusk County to visit many times while growing up.

My sister, Era Mae Smelley, didn’t come with us, but stayed in Nacogdoches with Aunt Theo Power to finish high school .My oldest brother, Jim, was already out on his own. But the two brothers just older than I, D.J. and Porter, also went to school at Glenfawn.

Porter and Russell Buckner’s biggest desire was to wrestle and throw Marvin Moore. A story that is told is about the time that Marvin, D.J., Porter, Russell, and Joe Buckner went fishing on the Angelina. The four of them decided that they would throw Marvin in the river. All night long they tried but not once did Marvin get thrown in, but he threw them in, over and over. He kept two in the river all the time. When they got in, the current would take them down stream. By the time they could get out and walk back, the other two would be in the river. Porter and Russell never did throw Marvin.

This was a wonderful time in my life and I shall always cherish my fond memories of my Rusk County days.

Submitted by Frances Smelley Whitmire