The Beard Family in 1940

The following pictures are of an old house my Daddy lived in as a kid in Kentucky.  I took these pictures when I was back home for a visit in 2012.  This old run down abandoned house is just past the old Love Graveyard in Crittenden County.  I had been visiting with Uncle Bobby and Uncle George and I was asking them questions, places they had lived, family, etc.  They told me this old house was still standing and directions on how to get there.   If anyone wants to go see this house themselves here are the directions.  You take Hwy 60W towards Salem out of Marion and go till you get to State Route 297 and make a right, this road goes to Sheridan.  You will continue down 297 until you see the sign for the Love Graveyard and you will make a right off 297 on to the Love Cemetery Road, just go right past the cemetery and it is the first house you come to on the left.

All of them were living here in 1940 except for Daddy’s oldest brother, William who was grown and lived in Providence, Webster County, Kentucky.   Can you even begin to imagine having eight kids in this tiny house and by August of 1940 a new baby, plus the two adults?  Uncle George couldn’t remember exactly how long they lived in this house, but Uncle Bobby was born there.  In Daddy’s little history he wrote that they moved into Marion sometime in the spring of 1941 and lived in a couple of different old houses there in town until they moved out to California in July of 1943, after his parents were divorced.

They never owned a home they always rented every house they ever lived in Crittenden and Webster Counties.  I am sure this run down old house looks better in these pictures then it ever did when they lived there.  Daddy always told me how most of the houses they lived in were just old shacks and the rain and snow would blow in and many times they would wake up with snow on their blankets in the winter time or their blankets being wet from the rain that had blown in too.  The boys all slept in one bed, the girls in another in the same room and their parents in another room.

The following is the 1940 census, which shows everyone that was living in this house at that time.  My Daddy is marked with the heart, he was the baby until Uncle Bobby came along.

I believe this next picture was taken in front of this house since Uncle Bobby is just a baby and his sister, my Aunt Dale is holding him and my Daddy, is standing right behind them with Aunt Sis setting in the chair behind them all.

This next picture I believe was also taken by this house, it is from oldest to youngest, my Daddy’s three sisters, Helen, Dale and Violet or as everyone calls her Aunt Sis.  As you can see Aunt Dale and Aunt Sis look to have the same dress on in both pictures.

This next picture with my Daddy and three of his brothers I think may have been taken at this house too.  From left to right is Uncle Don, Uncle Jack, Uncle George and my Daddy.

This next picture is of Mama Jessie with her two oldest boys William Teague and Harold Walls.  This picture may have been taken by this house as well.  Papaw Beard was always behind the camera so I don’t have too many pictures of him by himself or with any of the kids.

Out of the ten children my Mama Jessie had only three are still with us today, Uncle George, Aunt Sis and Uncle Bobby.  Uncle George is actually flying from Kentucky to California today with his niece, Crystal, Uncle Jack’s oldest daughter to go and visit his sister, my Aunt Sis in Clovis.  Jack and Sis were twins and were number 7 and 8 of Mama Jessie’s ten children.  They are both so looking forward to seeing each other again, it has been a few years and neither one is getting any younger, Uncle George will be 88 this year and Aunt Sis just turned 82 last month.  I can’t wait until Crystal gets pictures taken and uploaded online for all of us to see.

Crystal and Uncle George saying goodbye in a selfie on the plane to California about an hour ago.

Just thinking about the happy reunion they will have this evening and so I wanted to write a little memory story about my Daddy and his siblings.