HICKMAN PRIESLEY SIMMONS & BERNICE HUDSPETH - Texas, Oklahoma, Washington - 1800's and 1900's
ID 14 & 15
rin 14 & 15
Hickman was the first child of John Asbury and Eudorah (WALLACE) SIMMONS.
He was born July 31, 1884, probably in Bosque or Hill Co., Texas.
From the Whitney, TX Messenger, October 6, 1900: "J. A. Simmons of Bosque Co., TX, informed us that he and his boys cut town a bee tree and procured 65 pounds of honey." (From Joe Ward)
I don't know when Hickman came west, but his parents were in Greer Co., Oklahoma, before 1903. I remember his saying that he had done some wandering in his youth; so maybe he was there before them.
Hickman married Bernice HUDSPETH on October 18, 1905, in Martin Township, Greer Co., OK Terr. I remember hearing Grandpa Simmons say that he and Bernice had been married on the back of a wagon, but I didn't ask why. I expect that there may not have been room in the house for a large gathering; Bernice had many sisters living at home at that time.
The 1910 census for Oklahoma, Harmon Co., Martin Twp., lists Hickman as a farmer of rented land, living very near to his parents' farm. Living with him were his wife Bernice and daughters Venus and Bell.
In 1912/13 they left Oklahoma with three children and came to the Wenatchee area of Washington State.
For about a year they lived and worked on the Ball wheat ranch on Badger Mountain in Douglas County. Eli Ball was married to Bernice's sister, Estella.
Then they moved to Wenatchee in Chelan County where, I believe, Hickman worked at Patrick's Feed Store. Their daughter, Venus, recalled that they lived in one of the canyons on the outskirts of Wenatchee and that the overhanging cliffs caused her to feel a sense of danger; she was a child of the Oklahoma flatlands.
About 1917/18 they went to Ephrata in Grant County, where Hickman worked for a water distribution company.
They returned to Wenatchee about 1920, where he worked in orchards and sometimes went to the wheat country for harvest. Later he was employed by the City of Wenatchee water department.
The Polk City Directories for the City of Wenatchee indicate that they stayed the rest of their lives in the same neighborhood, far away from the canyons.
1920-1923 1324 S. Columbia St.
1923-1924 1209 S. Wenatchee Ave.
1925-1928 1304 Crescent St.
1929-1935 Directories missing. During this time they moved across the street to 1305 Crescent St. This was a larger house, with three bedrooms and a screened sleeping porch. There was enough land for a huge garden and a tournament-quality croquet field. There was a cow barn and a chicken house. Bernice raised Buff Orpington chickens, and she conducted an active business selling eggs and baby chicks.
The family later moved to 1301 S. Mission St. for a short while, and by 1936 they were back at 1304 Crescent St., where they lived for the balance of their lifetimes.
Hickman was called Hick by friends and Papa by his children and grandchildren. It was Hickman's practice during the warm season to take the big boys to the Columbia River for swimming, and it was a goal of the little boys to get big enough to go along. They all became very competent swimmers. A by-product of those excursions was the driftwood they carried home to be sawed and split for fuel for the cookstove and the heating stove. Papa often carved willow whistles for the little kids who hadn't been invited.
At their house there were not many chairs around the table, but there was a bench on each side for children -- one of them taller than the other for little kids. Bernice grew a big garden, and she had chickens and a cow.
There were alway big -- really big -- family gatherings that included not only the direct family, but aunts and uncles, cousins, and in-laws. There would be parties for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Fourth of July, the birthdays of Hickman and Bernice (July 31 and August 1), and any other time anybody could think of a reason for a party.
During Hickman's retirement years he enjoyed spending the summer camping out at a State campground by the Entiat River. Although there was supposed to be a one-week limit for occupying a space, he was allowed to stay all summer because he made himself useful -- building furniture, entertaining children with his stories, etc. He and Bernice would stay all week (cooking over a campfire), then come home on the weekend for church and to water their yard and do the laundry, then return for another week.
It was during this period when Bernice gave Hick what may have been the very first ultimatum in their married life. She gave him plenty of warning that she would not go camping again until their house had a bathroom. He dawdled, but she stuck by her guns; at the last minute he installed a toilet and a tin shower.
Bernice was a faithful, longtime Seventh Day Adventist, and Hickman became a member of that church late in his life. Most of their children attended the local Adventist School through the eighth grade. Hickman refused to allow his daughters to go to the public high school because he considered it to be full of worldly evils. He took Venus to the orchards to work with him and also hired her out to live and work in other people's homes, and Belle worked as a waitress. The boys all went to high school. I don't know if Rupert graduated, but the five younger ones did, and two of them went to college.
In 1963, failing health required that Hickman should have nursing home care, and Bernice followed him later that year. They died in 1964, less than a month apart.
March 1996 Prepared by LaVere Peters
March 1996 To Jim, Brian & Becky
6 Mar 1996 To Marie Simmons
3 Aug 1996 To Hal Wagner
10 Aug 1996 To Roy Simmons
17 Sep. 1996 To Wanda Edwards
9 May 1996 Added directory info