Название | LIVING THE FAITH OF OUR FATHERS |
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Автор произведения | Donald E. Wilson |
Жанр | Документальная литература |
Серия | |
Издательство | Документальная литература |
Год выпуска | 0 |
isbn | 9781631114229 |
In the summer prior to beginning teaching in Greenup, Dad pursued another priority, one he developed during his final year in school. On recess from school work he had returned home to Corbin where he dated a recent graduate of Corbin High School, Minnie J. Burton. Now, with a teaching contract in his pocket and with some money he had managed to save, he asked Minnie to marry him. She was a beautiful young lady and he did have competition especially from one other suitor. Her father, Tip Burton helped her with her decision when he demanded that she pick one or the other. At the time she was pondering her decision Dad also was dating another young lady. Unfortunately, due to lack of information, I cannot take that romantic interlude any further, than to say Minnie won the conclusion to the love story, and on September 30, 1929, became Mrs. Charles P. Wilson.
The same year on June 6, approximately 200 miles Northwest of Corbin, in Louisville, Kentucky, James A. Watson married Viola Headley.
Jim: Camp Taylor Pioneer
While James Watson, Jr., Alleen’s father, lived the early Twentieth Century in an entirely different environment from Charlie Wilson, his early struggle into manhood in Louisville, Kentucky was no less of a challenge. Nor was his perseverance and determination to use his inborn skills as a plasterer and tool and die maker to carve out a niche as one of the city’s pioneers.
Jim, as he was called, was the product of a most storied family with ancestors in virtually every conceivable profession from the medical and legal fields to military service in the Confederate Army during the Civil war. In the latter, his great grandfather served from the spring of 1862 until July of 1863 in the 28th Louisiana Volunteers; a regiment formed to protect the state from pending attack by the Union forces. Instead, the regiment was sent to Vicksburg where they fought in that famous battle for the siege of the city in May 1863. When Vicksburg and its control of the Mississippi River surrendered to General U.S. Grant on July 4th of that year, he surrendered, thus ending his military career. He was paroled by the United States government when the war ended, allowing him to return to civilian life.
Fortunately, unlike my dad, Jim, did provide an oral testimony in an historical project conducted by the University of Louisville. Also, he and his family were blessed with a 30 year longer life span than my dad, and therefore was able to pass on to Alleen, her two brothers and two sisters some of the facts of his life.
Jim was born to James Arthur Watson and Anna Rose Burns in the Portland area of Louisville, one of the city’s early residential communities located west of the downtown area and adjacent to the Ohio River. They lived there about five years where he worked as a plasterer. Jim’s memory began to crank in around 1906 when his father received an offer to help a friend establish a plaster firm in Beverly Hills, California. He remembers his parents selling their home and taking the five day train trip to California.
Jim attended first grade in the California school system until his mother had an operation that left her suddenly weak and unable to adjust to the West coast climate, especially the fog and damp air. The doctor told his father that conditions could kill her if he did not move away from that area. So, Jim was pulled out of school, and the family took the long train journey again back to Louisville.
His dad then bought a two acre plot of land owned by the wealthy Rudemaker family, becoming one of the first families to settle in the newly unincorporated Prestonia on the southern end of Louisville. There, in 1908, Jim entered school again and after changing school three times finally enrolled in Prestonia elementary School, where at last he found a school home. His one room school was similar to the school my Dad attended, with several grades taught by one teacher, Miss Emma. And like Dad, Jim was taught by that same teacher for all eight elementary grades. Also like Dad, Jim loved school and graduated with an “A” average. His situation was especially remarkable in that the frequent moves had forced him to repeat the first grade, therefore delaying his completion of elementary school. In 1915 he entered Louisville Male High School, located at Brook and Breckenridge (my future High School near downtown Louisville).
But in 1916, two events in Jim’s life caused him to decide to quit school, not an unusual path for a young person to take in that era. First, and most importantly, while his dad was doing well in his plaster business he needed help, and since Jim had often assisted him becoming a very good plasterer in his own right, he was a logical choice to help him.
Like most young people in the so called “Roaring Twenties” jobs were plentiful. River cities such as Louisville bordered by rich agricultural land and vast energy resources was made to order as a commercial link between the industrial North and agricultural South. While most Americans, especially in the South, remained tied to the old values of home, church, family, and small farms, young industrious people like Dad and Jim saw a much richer future beyond such an existence.
In later years Alleen sensed that her father always regretted not completing his education, and later when I joined the family, I saw such unbelievable qualities in him, that I am convinced he not only could have completed high school but even gone on to college and possibly graduate school. He was certainly one of the brightest and most industrious men I have ever known. Later when I looked over the background of the Watson family dating back over 200 years, I realized that he had the necessary genes and ambition to have followed his ancestors into unimaginable greatness. But, I must quickly add, posterity’s loss of such talent was his future family and son-in-law’s gain. In their sight he achieved greatness worth far more than anything additional schooling might have given.
At the top of his qualities was his devotion to his faith. His religious involvement began as a child when he accompanied his parents to services at the Beargrass Christian Church located in the Eastern Louisville suburb of St. Matthews, at least an hour’s bus ride from his home. In 1920 he left that church and attended a newly formed Baptist church that was closer to his home on Preston St. Rd. Finally, in 1922 twelve families, members of the Long Run Baptist association, began a new Baptist church, Farmdale, located on Preston Street a couple of blocks from Jim’s home. This was the real beginning of his Baptist Church life, and a devotion to his faith that was constant throughout his life.
Throughout the early 20’s Jim joined his Dad in the plaster business and the Watson's soon became known as two of Louisville’s best in the era of the city’s rapid growth. I must mention that Jim’s Dad was not only a skilled plasterer but also very artistic, applying his talent in ornate plaster work, a skill I will discuss further in a later chapter. He did such intricate work that anyone visiting downtown Louisville in the 20’s and 30’s, including several of Fourth Street’s leading theaters and several other buildings, admired the beauty of his work which fortunately, unlike so many renovations in the modern era, has been preserved into the twenty-first millennium. Jim helped him on some of those projects.
After a couple of years helping his father, Jim, a fast learner, decided to start his own business taking on jobs in the fast growing Preston Street Road area. His insistence on perfection in his work coupled with the fact that he was not a member of the plasterer’s union, soon put his services in high demand. Unfortunately, he learned an important lesson in trusting his clients that caused him to give up self-employment. One customer gave him a very big project, plastering an entire house. After buying his materials, and beginning to work, the man reneged on their contract and declared bankruptcy, leaving Jim in debt. So, he gave up his business, and to pay off his debt went back to work with his father and at the same time took on other odd jobs in the Prestonia area. This included working as a grounds keeper and filling divots on a golf course among other jobs, anything to build his bank account.
One Sunday as Jim entered the Farmdale Baptist Church sanctuary, a pretty young girl in the church choir attracted his attention. Shortly after that sighting, he asked her for a date, One date led to another, and on June 6, 1929, he married Viola Headley.
Jim’s future was derailed in 1929, when the Great Depression put a virtual halt to the building industry. While the economic impact was not felt immediately, three years later in 1932, America entered