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Note: s near Little Rock. Rupert served in the Navy during World War I. He was chefon the Leviathan, a troop transport ship. He and ELodia were married when he returned home at the end of the war. During the Great Depression days, Rupert and his brothers made several attempts to make a success in the grocery business in North Little Rock, in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, and in Dallas, Texas; but they all failed. He moved his family to Ward, Arkansas, and he traveled as a salesmanfor Brach Candy Company. (He had always disliked the name Rupert, so he adopted the name "Bob" when he became a salesman.) He started working for the Snowdrift/Wesson Oil Company, and was transferred to Paducah, Kentucky, then Nashville, Tennessee, then Louisville, Kentucky, and back again to Nashville just before he decided to retire. Bob and Elodia moved to Houston, Texas, to retire andto be near their grand-children. More from Rupert Priest;
Some historyof my life starting in the years 1900 to 1910.
My father lived on a 120 acre farm in Lonoke county, five miles from Ward, Ark. He had eight children, oneboy born in 1886 died as an infant.
Most of these dates are approximate; Thomas C. Priest and Mollie Sackett were married in 1882. Dora bas born in 1884;Dellah was born in 1886, and died in 1968. Coleman was born in 1885 and died in 1971. Claudia was born in 1889 and died in 1918. Emmett was born in 1893 anddied in 1966. Norman was born in 1895 and died in 1962. My mother was born in 1857 and died in 1927. My father was born in 1858 and died in 1942.
We would generally keep about four horses, one was a female, and we would raise a new one almost every year, and some time sell the young one for necessary money. We kept about ten cows; about 3 would be to furnish milk for family use, and we would sell two or three each year, and generally kill a young one in the fallfor table meat. We had about 10 hogs including a brood sow, and we would killabout six each fall of table meat. We had bout 20 sheep which we would shear each spring and sell part of the wool, some of the wool we would work up into socks, stockings, and blankets. We would generally kill one or two sheep duringthe year for table meat. We had about 60 chickens for eggs and we would raiseabout 60 fryers each year. We had about 15 gease; we used the feathers for making feather beds and pillows, and used the gease in the cotton field each summer to keep the grass out of the cotton rows.
We generally raised 10 or 12 bales of cotton, which we would sell for living money; and we raised corn for feeding the stock. We did take a sack of corn to the mill once or twice a year and have it ground for making enough light bread to last two or three weeks. We always raised about two acres of cane sorghum to make about fifty gallons of syrup to run through year. We raised about two acres of peanuts each year for eating and feeding to the hogs, since they were not worth much on the market.
Note: Rupert Priest and ELodia (Lenox) were born and raised in Arkansas in small town
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