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Note: Daddy was born on a farm at a place called West Point that was one mile west of Holum, Louisiana, Caldwell Parish. Holum is five miles east of Grayson, Louisiana. He is buried in the Dermott Cemetery, Dermott, Arkansas. On the night he died he was in the Post Office going over some papers and a hand book that came with the recently purchased 1935 Chevrolet 2-door sedan. A 20 year old black man Leroy Ware born and raised in Boydell, Ark came in around 7:15 p.m. to rob my Father. Dad attempted to take the revolver and was shot through the heart. He died instantly. Dad first came to Boydell when it was named Morrell, after the son of an early settler named Boyd. On December 27, 1912, Dad was checked in as the station agent for the St. Louis Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad Company. As a new agent with little seniority, he was sent to various other railroad stations to temporarily relieve the assigned agent for short periods of time from 2 to 3 days up to 2 weeks while the agent was sick, taking time off, or on a vacation. He first left Morrell on January 26, 1914 and would return to work there for a short time until he was sent to relieve another agent. On August 11, 1914 he was relieved as agent at Chicot, Ark and sent to open a station in Forest, La. He remained in Forest until October 28, 1915 when he was sent to relieve an agent at Calvit, La. (I'm unable to locate Calvit on a map), He again went to various towns to temporarily relieve assigned agents. Then, finally he was assigned as agent in Pioneer, La. where he remained from November 3, 1916 until January 10, 1918. Taking a few days off he visited his parents in Holum, La. then went to Lake Providence, La., where he was checked in on January 24, 1918 as Express Agent for Wells Fargo & Co. On June 21, 1918 a court clerk from Oak Grove, La. telephoned him and told him he must report to the local draft board on June 25, 1918 for shipment to Camp Pike, Ark, a few miles north of Little Rock. He was with a group of other men who were conscripted for military service at the same time. At Camp Pike they were given physical examinations, inoculations, and vaccinated, issued clothing and equipment, and began training as infantrymen. On September 7, 1918 they arrived at Le Harve, France by way of Liverpool and Southhampton, England. More training and drilling, then by train, truck, and hiking on September 10, 1918 to another location close to the war front. On September 25, 1918 he was assigned to Company B, 165th Regiment of the famous 42nd Infantry Division, know as the Rainbow Division, located on the St. Mihiel Front. Two days later his company moved up to the Metz Front, and on 30 Sept 1918 they made a 3-day hike, part way by truck to the Verdun and Meuse River Front, France. In the trenches, when at 10 a.m. Oct 14, 1918 all were ordered "over the top" out of the trenches and advanced on the German trenches. His squad leader, Corporal Crowning received a shoulder wound when struck by rifle fire immediately upon leaving the trench. Dad's pal, Ziece was killed instantly. Two days later, on Wednesday he became sick from exploding German shells containing mustard gas. He was hospitalized until Dec 21, 1918 when he was assigned to a casual company awaiting return to the USA. On Feb 2, 1919 he boarded a train and departed for Bordeaux, France. Embarked Sunday Feb 16, 1919 arriving Newport News, Virginia Mar 9, 1919. Dad was finally discharged from the Army at Camp Shelby, Miss on Saturday March 22, 1919 at 9:30 a.m. He arrived home in Holum, La on Mar 26, 1919. On his birthday April 7, 1919 (age 31) he traveled to Hot Springs, Ark where he stayed for about a month soaking in the healing bath and spring waters. At Little Rock, Ark he took a job as an express messenger on a train from Little Rock to Texarkana, Ark. and back to Little Rock. Back in Little Rock he applied for work as a station agent with the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company. He went home for a visit then to Hot Springs until May 22, 1919 when he was ordered to report to the railroad superintendent T.W. Collins at McGehee, Ark. He arrived there the next day at 2 p.m. and was assigned as agent for the station at Morrell, arriving there May 29, 1919 and was checked in as agent on May 31, 1919. Upon his arrival he found that the Post Office was named the Boydell Post Office, however the town name was still Morrell. It would not be until October 29, 1923 that the town of Morrell would be renamed as Boydell, named after Mr. Boyd and Mr. Waddell, another early settler and founder of the town. A large monument was erected in a field near the highway by Mrs. Mabel Gibson Waddell in honor of her husband, Jim Waddell. The railroad built a temporary rail spur to the location so as to off-load the monument from the railroad flat-car that carried it to Boydell. The U.S. Postal Service was instrumental in having the town name changed. Postal clerks who worked in railroad postal cars and city and town postal workers complained of the difficulty they encountered when sorting letters and post cards addressed to either of two towns with similar names. These were the towns Morrell and Marvell which was located just west of Helena, Ark. Some people were careless when writing, and wrote a's that looked like o's and r's that looked like v's. This resulted in mail being mis-sent to the incorrect post office. So, by changing the name from Morrell to Boydell the problem of mis-routed mail was resolved. Dad still had to put up with being "bumped" because of his low seniority as a station agent and was sent to other locations to temporarily relieve the agents. This was infrequent and as years progressed he was the permanently assigned agent and telegraph operator at Boydell. He had relief for occasions such as when he and mother left to be married and to go on a honeymoon, and at times of family illness and death, and the few times he traveled to Little Rock to receive radium treatment of his mustard gas damaged lungs. He paid $100.00 for each treatment. Dad and Mother roomed and boarded with Grandmother Luna Williams who, with her family lived in a two-story home, formerly The Red Onion Hotel located across the railroad tracks from the depot. Juanita was born at Grandma's house. It was in February 1921 when he rented a house and moved from Grandma's. The house was the rear two-thirds of a former store building built by Mr. Wil Gammel who operated a general store and lived in the rear area where rooms and windows were initially included to permit housekeeping. The Post Office was in the front area of the store. Mr. Gammel sold the store and constructed another one near the south side of town. I assume Mr. Dicken bought the store building from Wil Gammel because he's the one Dad rented it from. Ruth and I were born there. On February 24, 1924, Dad was appointed as the Postmaster of the Boydell Post Office. He served as Postmaster until April 9, 1925 when Mother succeeded him as a result of some local residents who wanted to operate the Post Office themselves, complained to the Railroad Company about Dad serving as Postmaster while employed as an agent of the Railroad. So, Dad assisted Mother in taking the required tests and examinations to become the Postmaster. Dad bought property lots and the house located thereon on June 23, 1924, and after having repairs made, we moved into the house on August 19, 1924. Dad had a new building constructed to house the Post Office and moved into it on April 28, 1925. It was located about 3 feet north and alongside the old store building and on southeastern corner of the property lots Dad had purchased. It was in this building housing the Post Office where he was murdered on the night of December 20, 1935. The source of most of the above information concerning my Father's employment and war-time service is from a document that he personally prepared during 1931. Ruth has the original typed copy titled, The Life History of F.A.N. Yeager. There are nine pages and each page contains the title and shows the inclusive years for that particular page. Other information was taken from articles in The Missouri Pacific Magazine, E.H. McReynolds, Editor, Vol. 1 No. 6 December, 1923, and Vol. 1 No. 8 February, 1924, Room 1662, Railway Exchange Building, St. Louis, Mo. Ruth has these two magazines. In each one there's a feature article at the front about Railroad Superintendent Baldwin's travels and operation of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Dad submitted items of interest for inclusion in the monthly magazine under the heading, Louisiana Division, By T.F. Riley, Editor. The December 1923 edition appears on Page 57 and is titled, News from Morrell, Ark., By F.A.N. Yeager. In the December article he mentioned that it was in Morrell that the first station was built south of McGehee, and it has a record of being open continuously since it was established. He wrote about the old Seth Thomas Clock, installed in the depot soon after the station was opened, remained in its original position on the wall and kept accurate time until last October 10, 1923. The clock was the official time-piece for the surrounding community during the pioneer days. Today it is the center of attraction, as the works have been removed for repairs and this adds new duties to the agent's list, as he must explain why the old reliable fails to register the correct time as usual. In the meantime, a "relief clock" is serving as indicator of time while "Old Reliable" is taking a rest. (I remember in my younger years watching men get up close to the right-hand bay window on the front of the depot, shade their eyes and check the time on the clock on the wall inside the depot office. ) The article in the February 1924 edition appears on page 47 and is titled, Boydell Notes, by F.A.N. Yeager. Dad tells about one of Mother's brothers, Uncle Searcy Williams, a clerk for the railroad at Bastrop, La. visiting his Father and Mother during the winter at Morrell, Ark., and about Auditor 194 informing him that they live at Boydell. Uncle Searcy showed surprise upon learning that his parents were in a new town and still at the same old home. It was in this article that Dad mentioned the date of October 29, 1923 that the name Morrell was changed to Boydell. He also mentioned that the stork had visited the home of F.A.N. Yeager at Boydell, December 20, 1923 and left them a son. (That was me, William Frederick Yeager) He included more history about the railroad in this edition. For example, in the latter part of 1890 and the early part of 1891, The St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway was extended south from Dermott, Ark., to Alexandria, La., and Morrell was the second station south of Dermott, Ark. The town was named after Morrell Boyd, son of J.T. Boyd. He goes on to mention a story about the first special train to come through. Actually, it stopped in Morrell. It carried Jay Gould and his son, George Gould, over the newly-constructed road and was stopped at Morrell to receive a message sent by telegraph to George Gould, notifying him of the birth of his first son. The train proceeded south to a point now known as Kimball, Ark., the half-way point between Little Rock, Ark., and Alexandria, La., 146 miles from each point, with a view to locating a suitable place for a terminal. As Mr. Gould was not pleased with the half-way point, they backed up to Wilmot, Ark., at which place the terminal was located, at that time. Dad's last line in the article stated, "Living in a new town and didn't have to move."
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