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Barry County Stories - Page 1

Barry County Stories - Page 3

Barry County, MO Stories

Page Two

[Story, photo, and document not to be used without permission from Dane Martin]    

It was a gray rainy and cold February day when Mary and I parked the car in front of the Lawrence County Missouri Court House at Mount Vernon MO. We were after the marriage certificate for my parents, Carl Martin and Alma Haddock.

In short order I had found it and had a copy of it in my hand, a sudden memory came to me as I closed the huge book that smelled of the ages and the hands of people handling it for many years. I looked down the row of monster-sized books and near the bottom, was one that could truly be called old. It was marked 1890 to 1900, after a half hour of reading the faded pages I found it! Grandpa and Grandma had also gotten married in Lawrence Co. It was like stepping back in time, what I read on those pages!

I remembered that Grandma and I spent a wonderful afternoon talking, just after she turned 90 and all the wondrous things she had told me. Not second hand stories, but from her own sweet old lips, a lie would have been as foreign to her as Chinese. It’s all true, and happened a long time ago in Missouri.

In 1898 they started from Central Ohio and came west in a wagon. Her parents [James and Nancy Moore] brought Florence and her brothers and sisters for the long hard trip west. Her father became ill and they stopped on the Missouri, Kansas line in a small town called Clarkson so that a Doctor could take care of her Father. The doctor couldn’t and didn’t help and he died.

The medicine, doctor, and burial were very costly for a family that had little money and her mother could not pay the bills. Her mom took a job as a waitress in the local café to earn a little money and make sure the kids could eat. They lived in a small shack behind the Café and did the best they could. The local Sheriff was hounding her mother, as in those days, even though they couldn’t put you in jail for debts they could and would charge you with defrauding an inn keeper and fraud if you didn’t pay debts to people you had told that you would some how pay them.

In the late 1800’s several brick factories sprang up in that area and of course they were wood fired in those days. Many of the old building and houses of the area are to this day standing as they were built of bricks made in those factories. The Haddock brothers from Barry County Mo. were in the area to cut wood for the brickyards and a few times each week would come to the local Café to have supper.

Each day Florence would go to school and then after school help in the Café with the evening rush for tips. She noticed that the tall one of the woodcutters had a keen eye for her and she thought he was a wonder. Over the next several months they all became acquainted and the Haddock brothers heard the story about her mother and the bills.

It was February and the Haddock brothers had farms in Barry County that had to be plowed and made ready for spring planting, it was about time for them to head for home. She noticed that C. W. Haddock took her mother to the side and had a long talk. That night her mother told her that she had decided to let her go with Mr. Haddock and in return he would pay off her debts and save her from the Sheriff. She had made C.W Haddock promise to marry her the day they left and that there would be no sleeping with her until the marriage was legal. Mrs. Moore packed Florence’s bag and signed a paper to allow her to marry at the tender age of 13. She was looking after the girl as best as she could at the time.

The following day the Haddock brothers with Florence in tow, headed for Barry County in several wagons and made the trip as far as Mount Vernon and stopped for the night. Grandpa found a local Minister of the Gospel, R. E. L Jarvis; they were married without much fan fare. They spent the first night of 62 years of marriage in a small room at Mount Vernon MO. C. W. Haddock was indeed a man of his word.

The next day started at first light and before dark they arrived at Grandpa’s homestead just out of Eagle Rock Missouri that would be her new home. It was true that life on the farm was hard, but in truth she told me that it was some of the best times of her life. She only had to cook for the two of them, only wash clothes for two and keep house in a very small cabin. It was much easier than caring for her brothers and sisters and working with her mother. She said she even had time to sew herself several dresses and for the first time in her life had time to do a little reading. Everything was much better than she had expected and she was grateful to her mother for the arrangement and the good man she was lucky enough to have.

Before her first year of marriage was over she had her first child. In the next many years she had a total of 13 children and of them 11 managed to reach adulthood. They would be together for over 60 years of happy marriage. They had many grand children and almost countless great and great, great, grand children She told me that she loved him still and would to do it all over again if she had the chance.

She had many adventures in her lifetime and a zest for life that would make you laugh. She loved to cook, fish, read, sew, go to church and be with her children. She told me how astounding it was to have traveled west in a wagon and then fly to Marysville Washington to visit with us in a 747 Jet, it was truly amazing how much change she had seen in this world and how she had survived all of it.

I was so lucky to have her for my Grandmother.

Florence Elva Moore Haddock, Born Aug. 27^th 1885 - Died July 24^th 1979

Charles William Haddock, Born Aug. 2^nd 1873 - Died April 8^th 1961

Mr. and Mrs. Charles [Charlie] Haddock - Plus all 11 of their children

On the left and on the front row is Fern, behind her is Roland, John is to his right, Blanche is in the checked jacket, behind her is Folk, next to Folk is Artie, standing between Grandpa Charles and Grandma Florence is Ruby, behind Grandma's head is Mary, the man with the big tie is Dale, and to right of Dale is Alma - Dane's mother, and right of her is Velma.

They are arrange by order of age from left to right - and this is the last time they were all together. Roland died in December of 1961 and Grandpa - Charles - died in April of 1961.

Photo taken on their 60^th Wedding Anniversary at their home in Exeter Missouri by

Carl Martin Sr. Feb. 1959

Marriage License

Copyright 3-1-04, by Dane Martin [Story, photo, and document not to be used without the permission of Dane]

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