March 22, 1006

I have had more than usual number of responses from readers about Grandma Black Eye from the past week’s column. It seems that there are many of us distant cousins, and we didn’t even realize the huge family tree of Grandma Black Eye’s descendants.

Grandma Black Eye was born in 1826 in McMinnville, Tennessee and died in May 1910 in Nocona, Texas. I mentioned last week that she married James William Harmon.

My Dad, Jim Goin, has told me many stories of the hard times that Grandma Black Eye endured with her large family. These local Onega Indians were accustomed to many difficulties that were a part of their life.

Part of their lifestyle was taking the warm milk and straining it for cleanness after each milking, which occurred at least two times a day. The cleaned milk was lowered in a bucket until it reached the cool water in the well. Then at the next meal time, the cool clean milk was served to the twelve children. Each meal generally required two or three gallons of milk. Any surplus of skim milk was made into cheese and the cream was pulled off and sold to be made into butter.

Grandma Black Eye knew how to take fresh clean wool and cotton and spin thread on her spinning wheel, that I remember from my youth.

I asked my cousin Billie if she would share some of her memories of the hearty old Grandmother. Billie emailed me that she remembered her mother telling about how certain fabrics were handed down when she was a young girl. She said that Grandma Black Eye tatted lace into a wedding garment that my Grandma Laura wore when she was married by Rev. White at the Greenvalley community on the large mound of land where Rev. White lived.

During the early part of the Civil War, a census was conducted that showed there were two spinning wheels in the north part of Texas. The spinning wheel was handed down to Granny Rachel Harmon after Grandma Black Eye moved to Nocona. It would be speculative, but we know there were more spinning wheels at work during this part of local history.

When I was a small child, I got the honors of watching my Grandmother Laura spin yarn on this old spinning wheel that was stored in Granny Rachel’s attic. It is a memory that I will always have. We don’t know what happened to the old relic that was such a necessity to all families during that period of time.

Milking the cows and lowering the fresh milk into the well and weaving the thread and yarn were only a part of a day in the progress of this great nation.

Rounding up the hogs to be fed and butchering the meat for the large family were also duties of the Cherokee mothers. They also cultivated the family’s garden plot. Any surplus was not destroyed, but saved and passed on to neighbors that had little or none.

The grandmothers in my life have had a distinct calling in providing for their children and grand children.

I recall in my early days, taking a broom and sweeping the grassless yard. It was not for cleaning purposes but for security purposes, and it did work. Sweeping the yard for my grandmother was performed with great pride. It was something I could always find time to do.

I have a sister of 85 years of age who relates to the many chores that we performed for our grandmother with great pleasure.

Grandma Black Eye raised twelve of her fourteen children. One of her fourteen was Emily (Aunt Emmer) who married Micajah McNatt and had the following children: Will, Fuzzy, Lee, Bob, Mandy Rodgers and the mother of Wilson Brown, there were more.

As I was searching the volumes of photos and history of the family, I discovered that I have misplaced Vol. 16, 17, 18, and 19. I will share more information, when I find the other books.

On another very sad note in our family, was the passing of Sue M. Goin. Sue was my brother’s wife. Buddy and Sue were married for 56 years. They too, have a large family. They are: Danny and his wife, Lisa; David and his wife, Helen: Paul and his wife, Lorna; Janie and her husband, Don; John and his wife, Paula; Judy and her husband, Dano.

Sue was a wonderful mother to the large family. The joys of raising and providing for her large family far outweighed the hardships that she ran into while bringing this family up. The amazing thing about this mother, is that she is not finished with her work on earth helping mankind. Sue gave her body to scientific research on diabetes which is what shortened her life. Sue was an example of determination in giving herself to research – she was looking still to the future in the rewarding life that she was granted. Sue and Buddy live just two blocks from my home.

Buddy and Sue had been married a little over ten years when this photo was taken. It was taken during a parade in Denton during 1960. On the left and held by Sue is John, her son Danny is leaning on the pickup. David is in the front on the truck bumper and Paul is on the right in the background looking forward. The other two boys were family friends.

[ Home ]