Return to Notasulga and Eclectic

When wars wage, life goes on, and somehow during the Civil War, my great-great grandparents managed to find time to bring three children into the world.  A month into the war, Mary gave birth to their second son, followed just 21 months later by the birth of their first daughter.

Julius returned home from the battlefield a few months before the Battle of Gettysburg to father one more son, my great-grandfather, James Henry Taylor Strickland, the fourth of eleven children.

In looking back at my family tree, I couldn't help noticing that most of my male ancestors had Biblical first names that recurred in different generations.  While Julius first brings to mind Julius Caesar, there was also a Roman Centurion by that name who showed kindness to Paul in the Book of Acts.

However, J.H.T.'s brother born in 1860 was named Augustus, so Julius might have referred to the most famous Roman Emperor after all, because Caesar Augustus was the son of Julius Caesar.


In any case, James H. T. Strickland took a religious path similar to his Bible namesake.  He became a Reverend.  Perhaps it was a church assignment that brought him from Georgia to Alabama, but for whatever reason he settled there with his wife, Elizabeth Franklin, sometime around the turn of the century.

They had three daughters before their only son and final child, my grandfather Julius Edward Strickland, was born.

Granddaddy did not follow his father into the ministry, but he did read the Bible every night before bed.  I remember that being a nice nightly ritual, and because they didn't get a small black and white TV until much later, that was a bit of shared "entertainment" for the family.  He was well-regarded by friends and family as an upstanding man.

Grandmother was also much-loved by everyone, and I know as a boy I thought of her as being the sweetest person in the world.  Her parents were David Alexander Ledbetter and Lizzie Hood Ledbetter.

I find it interesting that Jay's fiancée's father's name is also David, and while she now goes by Sasha, her name is actually Alexandra.  Of course, my grandfather's name is Julius, and my wife is Julianne.

Julius was a farmer (a bit of drama from his humble beginnings can be found at this link), and I always remember how great it was to eat all that fresh food from their farm. I knew we ate produce, dairy products and chicken that they raised and prepared, but I'd never thought much about the hogs beyond thinking that the sty smelled bad. Did the family slaughter their own hogs to make bacon, ham and other cuts? Aunt Ann told me they did, holding a hog dressing days as sort of social gathering.

I know there was always a lot to do on the farm, so I asked Aunt Ann what some of her chores were as a child.  Perhaps because she was the baby, she said she didn't really have any, although she liked tagging along with her parents to help them out, whether shucking peas with her mother or spreading seeds with her dad.  Once after spreading seeds, he asked what she wanted as pay.  She said a bicycle.  She was surprised when he returned from town with a brand new bike for her.  While learning to ride it that first day on the road between her house and that cemetery, she crashed and bent the fender.  She felt sad about damaging such a nice gift, but she was still able to ride it.

Aunt Ann said one time she and my mom, who was nine years older, decided to pick cotton one summer to "get a tan." She laughed at the silliness of the thought now, and I found it additionally interesting because my mom was always trying to keep Darlene from laying out of the sun when she was a teenager.

When she was a teenager herself, Aunt Ann married the love of her life, Roy Parker.  He had fallen for her in grade school and even after moving away told his cousin he would one day marry her.  Roy asked her repeatedly to go out with him, and she finally gave in to the inevitable.  Roy was a smart, good-natured man who looked a lot like Steve McQueen, making me wonder why Ann said no for so long.  They enjoyed many happy years together as one of the most truly loving couples I've ever seen.  We were all deeply saddened to lose him a few years ago.

Angie and Aunt Ann had thoughtfully purchased in advance to put on the graves of our ancestors at Antioch Methodist Church Cemetery.  Emma found some small wildflowers which she added to the bouquets.

After that somber stop, we drove past the family farm, which wasn't too far from the Cemetery. The old red dirt driveway that used to take us to their house was grown over, so apparently a different access road is used now.

Julie and I had tried to find the farm on our way from Atlanta, but after leaving the highway, we soon lost GPS and instead headed over to Eclectic to visit Cousin Donald at his famed Cloth Barn.

His father, Uncle Edwin, started the business as a five and dime (sort of like a Dollar Store these days), which I wrote about previously.

Donald remains the same high energy comedian he's been my whole life, though physically he has been slowed considerably.  He loves to compliment women and make fun of anyone not wise enough to live in Alabama.

Donald, a Little While Ago

A couple of days later, we returned to Donald's store with our full contingent of out-of-state family members.

When he met Gina's husband and daughter Emma at that time, Donald asked where they were from. 

"Philadelphia," he was told.

"Oh, that's too bad," Donald said solemnly.

"Then again, it could be worse. You could live in California!"