My Remembrances of Uncle Fletch and Aunt Ciddy by Wanda Sheram
Aunt Ciddy, Uncle Fletch, and Fletch's sister, Hettie.
No reference was found about Uncle Fletch doing the brick on the new jail (which is now the “old” jail) in Athens. However, we know that he did. Evidently, he worked at various jobs in the 1930s.
As to what happened concerning his first marriage, we don’t know. His two sons were very young when he came to Texas and he did not bring them with him. However, after he and Aunt Ciddy married they came to visit him several times. She really cared for the boys and evidently they loved her.
She told of a particular incident when she could not find Dow, the youngest boy. She called him and he replied, “Here’m are” She loved to tell that story.
Uncle Fletch and Aunt Ciddy had no children. They lived in a nice house located on N. Pinkerton St. in Athens. This is where the old jail cell sat in the back yard. This was always a fascinating thing to us kids and we played out there a lot. The house was designed so that it was easily divided into a duplex. As far back as I can remember, there was another couple living in the other side, a Mr. and Mrs. Jones.
My parents and I lived in the Houston area and would always come to visit my grandparents in Eustace in the summertime. We would spend one day visiting Aunt Ciddy and Uncle Fletch. We never had much of a visit with him because he only came home from his job for lunch. Aunt Ciddy always prepared a very good lunch, and when it was ready, we always had to wait for “Setchie”, as she affectionately called Uncle Fletch, to come home.
My mother related the story about her, and some of her brothers and sisters, traveling with Uncle Fletch and Aunt Ciddy to Elkhart to visit the Starr family. Aunt Ciddy’s mother was from the Starr family. Their means of transportation was horse and wagon. As they were going down a narrow country lane, there was a burnt log near the edge of the road and the horse was spooked and came to a halt. Aunt Ciddy said, “I bet if that log had’ve moved, that horse would have tore up things”. Uncle Fletch replied, “If that log had’ve moved, we would have tore up things, too”.
Uncle Fletch died in 1940. I came to his funeral with my parents, but don’t remember much about it. It was in the Methodist Church in Athens, and he was buried in Athens
City Cemetery.
After Uncle Fletch died, Aunt Ciddy decided that the wise thing for her to do, was to deed the house and property to Mr. and Mrs. Jones with the stipulation that she would still live there and they would care for her the remainder of her life, which they did.
We continued to visit Aunt Ciddy often. She always insisted on cooking lunch for us, and she always had fried chicken, a variety of good country vegetables, a pie or two and iced tea. She served the tea in a glass hobnail pattern goblet which fascinated me.
In the early 1950s, after I met Ralph, we visited Aunt Ciddy several times. Ralph was intrigued with the two huge keys hanging on the wall in her kitchen. When he questioned her about them, she said they were to the old jail cell in the back yard. He really wanted one of those keys, but she told him that she didn’t want to split up the pair.
When Ralph and I married in July 1953, Aunt Ciddy insisted on coming to our wedding in Channelview, Texas (near Houston). She boarded a bus in Athens and came to our wedding. Tucked neatly in her suitcase was a new yellow sheet that she had brought to us as a wedding gift.
Aunt Ciddy died October 31, 1953 . The funeral was in the Methodist Church in Athens and she was buried in Athens City Cemetery. My mother, Aunt Lalia (mother’s sister), Ralph and I attended her funeral.
As to what happened concerning his first marriage, we don’t know. His two sons were very young when he came to Texas and he did not bring them with him. However, after he and Aunt Ciddy married they came to visit him several times. She really cared for the boys and evidently they loved her.
She told of a particular incident when she could not find Dow, the youngest boy. She called him and he replied, “Here’m are” She loved to tell that story.
Uncle Fletch and Aunt Ciddy had no children. They lived in a nice house located on N. Pinkerton St. in Athens. This is where the old jail cell sat in the back yard. This was always a fascinating thing to us kids and we played out there a lot. The house was designed so that it was easily divided into a duplex. As far back as I can remember, there was another couple living in the other side, a Mr. and Mrs. Jones.
My parents and I lived in the Houston area and would always come to visit my grandparents in Eustace in the summertime. We would spend one day visiting Aunt Ciddy and Uncle Fletch. We never had much of a visit with him because he only came home from his job for lunch. Aunt Ciddy always prepared a very good lunch, and when it was ready, we always had to wait for “Setchie”, as she affectionately called Uncle Fletch, to come home.
My mother related the story about her, and some of her brothers and sisters, traveling with Uncle Fletch and Aunt Ciddy to Elkhart to visit the Starr family. Aunt Ciddy’s mother was from the Starr family. Their means of transportation was horse and wagon. As they were going down a narrow country lane, there was a burnt log near the edge of the road and the horse was spooked and came to a halt. Aunt Ciddy said, “I bet if that log had’ve moved, that horse would have tore up things”. Uncle Fletch replied, “If that log had’ve moved, we would have tore up things, too”.
Uncle Fletch died in 1940. I came to his funeral with my parents, but don’t remember much about it. It was in the Methodist Church in Athens, and he was buried in Athens
City Cemetery.
After Uncle Fletch died, Aunt Ciddy decided that the wise thing for her to do, was to deed the house and property to Mr. and Mrs. Jones with the stipulation that she would still live there and they would care for her the remainder of her life, which they did.
We continued to visit Aunt Ciddy often. She always insisted on cooking lunch for us, and she always had fried chicken, a variety of good country vegetables, a pie or two and iced tea. She served the tea in a glass hobnail pattern goblet which fascinated me.
In the early 1950s, after I met Ralph, we visited Aunt Ciddy several times. Ralph was intrigued with the two huge keys hanging on the wall in her kitchen. When he questioned her about them, she said they were to the old jail cell in the back yard. He really wanted one of those keys, but she told him that she didn’t want to split up the pair.
When Ralph and I married in July 1953, Aunt Ciddy insisted on coming to our wedding in Channelview, Texas (near Houston). She boarded a bus in Athens and came to our wedding. Tucked neatly in her suitcase was a new yellow sheet that she had brought to us as a wedding gift.
Aunt Ciddy died October 31, 1953 . The funeral was in the Methodist Church in Athens and she was buried in Athens City Cemetery. My mother, Aunt Lalia (mother’s sister), Ralph and I attended her funeral.