My times with Grandpa Jarid Alonzo Mobley
Jarid was the son of William Dean, who was the son of Rosenbloom "Lon", who was the son of William J.
I never spent much time with Grandpa Jarid other than in my very young years, but did visit a few times after I was in my teens.
The only name we knew was Jerry, not Jarid or Jorden, but Grandma Ora, Who was his second wife called him Jerd all the time. So I did hear the name Jerd by Grandma, but all the rest of the family called him Jerry Mobley. It was a complete surprise to me to find that his givin name was Jarid or Jorden.
Grandpa allways smoked an old curved stem pipe, I never seen him without it in his mouth. He didnt have any top teeth in later years and he looked a site when he looked at you peering over the top of the sun glasses he always wore and that pipe hanging down from his mouth.
He smoked George Washington tobacco and YOU NEVER ASKED HIM FOR ANY IF YOU WAS OUT.
So..on with the story. Ohh one thing, I never found them living in a town until close to the end of his life and that was in Peacock Texas and he didnt stay there very long. Another thing is he never lived in a house with all the modern things, like running water or heating and cooling.
He would allways pick an old rundown house in the country and either rent it or just move in.
In 1934 and 1935 He lived in a dugout in a creek bank just east of the Salt Fork of the Brazos about 14 mi north of Aspermont, Texas. It was located about 200 Yards downriver from the bridge.
My Mother and Daddy also had a dugout a few yards away from Jarid's. and I remember living in it.
Jarid would do contract work for the county and that kept his boys Taylor, Tyler and Alby busy repairing bridges and culverts. The whole family were rock masons and could build anything out of concrete and rock or bricks. His three daughter's met their husbands there. Family's would travel through that area and stay a while. Some even lived in tents in the river bottoms, but all traveled on west after a short stay. It was just too hard a way to live.
He was good hearted and thats probaly the reason many transit familys would stop a few weeks. When they crossed the bridge the tent citys could be seen below. Grandpa put as many to work as he could, giving them needed money to buy goods and be able to travel on.
It was the time of the Great Depression and bacon and steak sold for 11 cents a pound and one could buy a suit at J. C. Pennys in Abline for 12 dollars...( Provided one had money )
One time I went down for a visit and Grandpa and Grandma were living in two seperate rock house's and very small, each about the size of a small room. I think they may have been a port of entry for trucks at one time. They are still there today at the junction about 3 miles west of Aspermont
One time me and a friend, Charles Oldaker hitch hiked down and stayed a few days. Grandpa lived about 10 miles north of Aspermont on the road to the River and the dugouts where I was born. They had to carry water from an old dirt tank or pond. It was across the road and out in a field and me and my friend fished in it a coupla days and went back to New Mexico.
Another time I visited him and worked a few days with him and Uncle Taylor Mobley. They were pouring a concrete slab for a big tractor implement place in Aspermont. On the days we poured concrete I did all the mixing, shovling sand and gravel and cement in to a mixer from daylite till dark. Uncle Taylor pushed the wheel barrow and Grandpa bossed the job and did most of the finishing. I could have switched off and pushed the wheel barrow but I just couldnt push that thing full of concrete. It didn't take me but a coupla days of that and back to New Mexico this kid went !!.
Grandpa Jarid was a pretty salty customer, he didn't like to argue with people, and didnt take any guff from anyone.
On one of my visits he was in his seventys and running a beer joint out in the country east of Aspermont. he couldnt let anyone drink on the property and it was a very hot day so when a customer would come in for beer, I would go into the cooler room and search for it, and naturaly I had one now and then.
Then Grandma Ora told me about Jarid being robbed a few weeks before. So knowing how salty Garndpa was, I asked him " How come it happend to him". and he said well.." Grandma was with me that day, and the guy had the hammer back on his pistol when he held us up, and I knew he could pull the trigger quicker than I could hit him and anyway, I didnt want to try with Grandma here".
Another time I came down to visit and as usual they were living in an old house a few miles from town. Grandpa was sick in bed and Grandma told him, " Git up Jerd, I want to wash them bed cloths and git yours off too".
Grandpa got out of bed and began to empty his pockets and took out a loaded pistol and laid it on the bed.
"Darn Grandpa I said, how come you're in the bed with a pistol". And he replied, "One time in my life I was taken advantage of and it ain't gonna happen again". He was referring to the time he was robbed at the beer joint.
Me and my brother, Claude went to Aspermont one time. Mom took us and we begged to stay a while with Grandpa Jarid and Grandma Ora. I noticed an old 37 Model Ford in the junk pile behind Grandpa's house.
It cought my eye, even tho it didn't have any tires or tubes and it was missing a starter. Grandpa agreed that I could have it, if I worked a week mixing cement for him. Well I worked the week and then Uncle Alby Mobley took me to the dump ground and we found four tires and tubes. We patched the tubes and put boots in the tires.
Then Grandpa decided I should work another week for the car, So I worked Another week mixing cement for concrete. In the mean time my Mother had wrote to him saying she would come down and kick the hell out of him if I didnt get the car.
Grandpa still didnt like the idea of losing a free worker, So one day when he went to town, I made up my mind to leave.
We didn't have any food in the house,and Grandma had picked some dry peas growing in the field next to the house. She put them in a skillit and fried them for a while, but I still couldnt eat them.
Then I pumped up the tires on the car with an old hand pump and talked Grandma and my Aunt Doris ( Taylor Mobley's Wife )into helping me and Claude push the car to start it since it didnt have a starter. Ohh.. and it didnt have any brakes either.
It worked!! The old Ford started and off we went, Me and Claude and a baby apossom he had. It was a sticky scene when we would come to a town with traffic lights. I slowed down as much as possible before I got to the lights and then jammed the gears in reverse then just before the motor would die I shifted out of it.
But we had another problem, around Bronco Texas the motor started knocking, and I knew it was out of motor oil. I stopped at a station and got the guy to give me a gallon of used motor oil.
The Car was smoking and knocking again when we pulled up to our house in Roswell. That was the last it run, I had knocked out the rod inserts and mains.
Grandpa couldn't read or write as far as I know, But he could shure figger. He was very good at it and could figure out square feet and how much concrete it would take to fill a floor or footing, but someone else had to read letters for him.
As I said before, Grandpa was a very salty customer and had lots of nerve. This story was told to my by my mother. Jarid had been coon hunting around the river bottoms one night and had made a small camp fire to brew coffee while the dogs hunted for coons. While he was resting with a cup of coffee a coupla aproached through the tall grass and trees along the River. They asked from the darkness if he could spare a few cups of coffee, and Grandpa replied " Sure," cmon and sit a while .
He later told the family that is was Bonnie and Clyde at the camp fire that nite and that they acted like common folks, except for being armed with a machine gun and shotgun.
Mother said as a young girl Jarid owned a wild west show and she remembered travling on the train from city to city. She said Jarid would put on wild horse bucking shows with him as the bronc rider and they would erect a fighting ring, and Jarid would offer money to anyone that could whip him in the boxing ring. This must have been around Graham, Texas, before they moved to the badlands north of Aspermont.
Jarid didnt like to drive, even though he owned a car or truck from time to time. He would allways get someone else to drive. Its possible that he never learned to drive. I remember on some of my visits as a teen, he would have me drive him around the country side to places he wanted to go. I was happy to drive, but he made me get out and open the gates and close them afterwards, I didnt care much for that as there was always rattle snakes around that sandy country.
Well...thats the end of my stories about Grandpa Jerry, Jarid, Jordan, Jerd, Alonzo Mobley, unless I think of somthing else !!.