Clement Earl Malone was born in Lawrence County June 5, 1883 to William and Emily Caroline (nee Millhouse) Malone. Clement was united in marriage to Frances Hall, daughter of Robert and Cynthia (nee Miller) Hall. Frances died on October 20, 1932. Clement died in Lawrence County in May 1966 and is buried in the Bridgeport Cemetery.
Editor’s Note:
Clement wrote a letter to the Pink Press in 1916 and continues:
“I still reside in Chicago and am with the firm Sears, Roebuck & Co. where I have been employed the last eight years. I take pleasure in telling you I have been accepted by the brotherhood of Free Masons and last July was raised to sublime degree of Master Mason by Veritas Lodge No. 926 , A. F. & A. M.”
He lists his address as 830 S. Claremont St. Chicago, Illinois.
Clement later worked for the Sinclair Refining Company
---------
(J. A. Marley)
Biographical Note:
Joseph A. Marley was born in Indiana on March 9, 1855. He was united in marriage and Nanna J. Day, October 14, 1888. To this happy and pleasant union one daughter was born, now Mrs. Anna Mathis .Joseph was a Deacon of the Church of Christ at Mt. Zion. Joseph died on October 6, 1918 in Sullivan, Indiana and laid to rest in the beautiful Woodlawn Cemetery at Terre Haute, Indiana.
(George W. Martin)
Biographical Note:
George W. Martin was born to John and Elizabeth Martin.
Editor’s Note:
George wrote letters in 1916 and 1917 and 1919 see chapters for his letters
Annotation:
Chinch bugs are almost 3/16-inch long, have black bodies and fully developed wings that appear frosty-white Capable of injuring plants such as grasses and corn; medically harmless
Editor’s Note:
General George B. McClellan became the unsuccessful Democratic Party nominee opposing Lincoln in the 1864 presidential election.
The good ladies and sisters of this community had our house scrubbed and ready to enter. The men were ready with their wagons and teams to help unload the car. Among one of the faithful ones was Chalmer Moore. He assisted in every way he could. He met the train in his machine and took Mrs. Mathias and little Joseph Richard to his home until things could be put in order at home.
Perhaps someone would enjoy reading something about Joseph Richard, my grandson. He is in good health, growing nicely and has two teeth. He still waves bye-bye and whistles.
We like our new home fine and wish all who live near and around our old stomping ground all the success that can be had.
For fear I might worry someone with my words, I will stop my pen.
My parents moved from Ohio to Illinois. There were eight children of us, five of whom are living yet. I was 11 years old when we moved in the year of 1853. We crossed the river at Russellville on a ferry boat, came to Lawrenceville. It was not much of a town then. Came through Bridgeport. There was but one business house in the town then. Mr. Thorne had a store there. The .O. & M. was graded and but the trains did not run until 1854. We settled five miles south, one half mile west of Sumner, in Lukin Township. About that time Sumner started up. In 1854 was a very dry year. That year was the first I ever heard of Cinch bugs. There were plenty of them that year. School and meeting houses were few and far between those days. Our circuit preacher lived in Lawrenceville. He would get around once a month in Sumner. He would preach one weekday in winter at night. We had three months school in the winter. I could not go but part of the time.
Mr. Edmondson (unreadable). Buckhorn schoolhouse was built in 1855, the year Buchanan was elected president. I often wonder how many of the scholars are still living that started to school that year. The last I noticed to go was Mr. B. L. Cunningham.
My first vote for president was for General George B. McClellan in the year of 1864. I, with my wife and my brother, Jackson and family, left Lawrence County in the year of 1881, another settled in dry year. Settled in Hamilton County where we have lived ever since.
Well, I expect I have made my letter too long already. Pick out what you want, though the rest in the waste basket.
George W. Martin
------------
Fruita, Colorado
January 11, 1915
The Sumner Press:
I noticed in the last issue of your valuable paper your intention to issue what you have pleased to call space "A non-resident Issue" of your paper, requesting those of us that have left dear old Lawrence County to furnish the material.
I must say that I regard the move as a wise one. I do not know that there is a person in the wide world outside of my own kin that is especially concerned about myself and wife for this constitutes the whole of our family, but I am looking forward to this issue as being of peculiar interest to me.
Your instructions are to write about personal matters, one’s self, family, etc. This is a difficult thing for me to do but I shall endeavor to stay with the text. Mrs. McKelfresh and I were married March 17, 1897. Several years later March 1904, for health reasons, we very much against their own personal feelings tore loose from loved ones and friends and took a journey of 1500 miles landing in Grand Junction, the county seat of Mesa County, Colorado. And let me say that we regard Colorado as being in many ways one of the greatest states in the union. Having lived in this time on a farm we knew but little of city life but we very soon found out that the folks here were very similar to the ones we had left and we soon had friends by the score and really the people are much more sociable in the west than in the east.
As a boy and man on the farm I knew full well what hard work was so the first work that I secured after locating was sawing wood with a buck saw and say, that was real labor, at least I found it so. This is my first experience at this particular kind of work. This job proved to be a short one and having some little knowledge of the carpenter trade I soon found employment of this kind.
In December of the same year we moved 12 miles farther west, to Fruita, Colorado, our present home. Here we engage in the grocery business for a little over a year, but sold our interest in the business and spent one summer in the mountains thinking that the high altitude would be more healthful as it proved to be. I spent this vacation cutting logs and doing labor at a saw mill. I was not the foreman.
On our return from the mountains, a two-story building was under construction in the town and when completed a portion of the ground floor was occupied by the first bank of this city. I had no trouble in securing employment on the job, stayed until it was completed, or nearly so. At this time the company offered me a job as general roustabout, flunky, I think they call it out here, and I was to spend what time I could in the bank doing what I could and learning more if I could. After a few months I was relieved as flunky and place in the bank as bookkeeper. About six years ago some resignations took place with the office force and I was made assistant cashier, which place I still hold.
We are delighted with the western country and the people. I would love to tell you something of our delightful climate, but that has been forbidden by our good editor. Fruita is a small town hardly so large as Sumner, has plenty of churches, splendid schools, waterworks, electric lights, sewers one steam and one electric (rail) road.. We have many other desirable things, and some quite a number that are not desirable. There has never been a saloon in town, and I would have you remember that the entire state went dry last November.
