INTRODUCTION
I was lucky to know my great-grandmother Orpha McClanahan when I was a little girl. She passed away when I was eight years old, but I remember her being present at family gatherings. I didn't know great-grandpa, but my dad's cousin, Charleen McClanahan Varner, shared her memories of her grandparents, Orpha and Garnet, with me. Charleen was also able to give lots of little details about other family members and life in the community where the McClanahans lived. This narrative is based on written documents and records, as well as Charleen's firsthand accounts of the lives of Orpha and Garnet.
 |
Orpha & Garnet circa 1941 |
SUNNYSIDE UP!
Garnet* Commodore McCLANAHAN grew up in the Ozark hills in Wright County, Missouri, on a large farm located on Beaver Creek, near the village of Sunnyside. His parents, Joseph and Nancy Catherine HENDERSON McCLANAHAN, owned 160 acres of land endowed with rich river-bottom soil, abundant timber and plenty of wildlife to entertain a young man interested in fishing and hunting.
*Garnet signed his name with one “t,” but it is found spelled as “Garnett,” in several records. His son, Garnett Jr. always signed his name as “Garnett.”
He was the sixth of eleven children born to the McClanahans, but had the distinction of being the first son. As the oldest boy in the family, he probably began doing farm work as soon as he was able to cultivate crops, care for livestock, cut firewood and complete other necessary chores. Although he was surely needed to supply farm labor to help support the growing McClanahan family, he attended school through eighth grade and could read and write.
When Garnet reached adulthood, he shouldered responsibilities to support his parents and siblings in times of sorrow. He signed as the informant on the death certificates of his two youngest sisters who died in their twenties. Ida Catherine GIBSON passed away on 21 February 1911, at age 24, after a series of ailments following the birth of her third child on 19 December 1910. Tragically, her baby son died from acute enteritis less than four months later. She left behind two older children. Thruley died from pulmonary tuberculosis on 16 June 1912 at age 29. She was single and lived at home with Nancy and Joseph.
Garnet cut a handsome figure, even when dressed in his work clothes. His light brown eyes were deep-set and his cheekbones and nose were strongly chiseled. He had thick black eyebrows and hair, and he sported a mustache in his younger years. The physical demands of his work as a farmer, cutting wood and cultivating crops, and walking behind the horse-drawn plow, harrow, and planter, helped him maintain a slim, muscular physique.
Orpha Elizabeth CRISP, who also lived in Montgomery Township, must have been smitten with Garnet’s good looks and she was certainly a natural beauty. She wore her long dark hair pinned up, accentuating her porcelain complexion and fine features.
Like Garnet, Orpha came from a large family. She was the fifth child of twelve born to William Rufus Washington and Ollie Isabelle SHULTZ CRISP. Unlike many young girls who were raised in the Ozark hills, she too, had gone to school and had an eighth-grade education.
 |
Garnet & Orpha's Marriage Record |
No doubt, they were a handsome couple when they exchanged marriage vows before a Justice of the Peace in Manes on 30 July 1899. Since Orpha was only sixteen, the marriage license contained a note stating that her father, “W.R.W. Crisp has given his assent in writing to the above marriage.” Garnet was twenty-five years old and prepared to establish his own household and support his wife.
CHANGE WAS IN THE AIR
The young couple thrived even though they experienced several monumental changes in their lives in their first year of marriage. Not only did they face the adjustment of living together as husband and wife, they moved almost one hundred and fifty miles away from the only community they had ever known. The Twentieth Century, a new era in technological and scientific progress for mankind, began only six months after their wedding. And, to top it all off, they had their first child, Garnett Commodore Jr. less than eleven months after their wedding day.
The newlyweds were settled in the Porto Rico community in Jasper County, Missouri, before the 1900 census was taken in June. (Porto Rico was the namesake of a lead and zinc mine in Section 34 of Jackson Township, 28 North, Range 32 West, about five miles east of Joplin.) They were not on their own, however, and benefited from the support of Garnet’s parents and siblings. Joseph’s entire family appears to have relocated together, as the households of Joseph, Garnet, and his brother John were recorded on adjacent lines in Jackson Township. According to the enumeration, all three men owned their farms and stated their occupation as “wood choppers.” Orpha’s family had also moved to Jasper County and was living in nearby Joplin Township, where her father worked as a blacksmith.
The population of southwest Missouri was booming at the turn of the century and there were plenty of jobs for able-bodied young men in the burgeoning lead and zinc mines. There was also plenty of rich farmland available for rent or sale in the area. Most of the early settlers in the region had been driven away by devastation incurred during the Civil War. Their farms were on the border between the North and South and had been overrun as trampling soldiers from both sides confiscated supplies or engaged in battle. Whatever was left was burned in their wake. The natural resources which originally drew antebellum pioneers had been replenished over the years after the war and were being rediscovered by new families pouring into Jasper County.
 |
Curly, Garnet, Roy, Orpha, Rure, and Mae McClanahan in 1905 |
FOUR UNDER FOUR IN 1904
Garnet and Orpha both came from large families, so they likely expected to have several children. Their oldest son, born on 23 June 1900, was named after Garnet, but seldom answered to his legal name. The McClanahans liked to give their kids nicknames and he was initially called “Theodore,” but soon became known as “Curly.” When Curly was nearly two, a daughter, Mae Esthlee, was born on 1 March 1903. On 14 November 1904, four-year-old Curly and 20-month-old Mae were joined by twins Roy Calvin and (my grandfather) Rure Alvin. The twins were very likely an unexpected surprise! Without modern medical tests and procedures to identify twins before birth, Orpha probably had no idea she was carrying twins until they were born.
.jpg) |
Twins Roy and Rure McClanahan in 1905 |
It must have been quite a challenge to care
for four under four in 1904! There were few conveniences available for new
mothers at the turn of the century and Orpha must have been exhausted after
providing food, clothing, and childcare for her family. Most women grew their
own vegetables in gardens, prepared all their food from scratch, did laundry on
a washboard and sewed their own clothes. In addition, twin Roy was born small
and sickly. He
also contracted a childhood disease which resulted in him having to relearn how to
speak. The nearby extended family probably enjoyed the blessing of the twins
and helped keep the household running smoothly with their assistance.
AND TWO MORE
Another daughter, Bessie LaVerne, was born on 8 January 1907, when the twins were just over two years old. On 10 January 1912, the family was complete with the birth of William Robert, who suffered a debilitating mishap during his childhood. He fell on a slick, freshly-mopped kitchen floor and broke his leg. It healed improperly, causing him to limp for the rest of his life.
Jasper
County school records indicate that the McClanahan children attended Underwood
School in 1909. The location of the school was described in the Carthage Evening Press in 1906,
when a new building was being constructed to replace the original one that was
destroyed by fire. Garnet and Orpha lived about a half-mile east of the school.
“A
new school building is to be erected in the Underwood district,
eight miles southwest of Carthage and two miles east of Porto Rico. It is
to cost $1200 and will begin next week. It will be a one room structure with
two cloak closets, porch, belfry, etc., with modern appliances for heating,
ventilation, etc. It will probably be the best one-room school building
in the county when
done. The former building in this district was burned down last April and
school had to be dismissed
before the term was out, because of the fire. Insurance to the amount of
$600 was secured on account of the loss and now with the equipment of the new
building the district will be in much better shape for educational advantages
than ever before.”
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment