Ada Bessie (Crawford) Horton (1888 - 1964)

Born 28 Feb 1888 in Menard County, Texas

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 12 Jan 1964 at age 75 in Wheatland, Oklahoma

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Ada Bessie "Bess" (Crawford) was my maternal grandmother. She died shortly before I was born, but I grew up surrounded by family who loved talking about her and her shenanigans. Othermama acquired her nickname when one of her first few grandkids (there were LOTS, and I don't claim to know which one named her) fell while outside playing. All of her kids called her "Mama", of course, so when this grandchild was crying after a fall, he said, "I want Mama!", so the other children ran in the house and told his mother he was hurt and wanted her to come outside. When she got to him, he reportedly said, "I don't want YOU! I want that OTHER Mama!" And thus, Bess Horton became known by one and all as "Other Mama". She was a hard working woman who worked right alongside her husband (and kids) at whatever enterprise was earning a living at the time. I recall one of my aunts telling of Other Mama being one of the strongest women she knew. She gave birth to 13 live children, and there was a memorable story told by my Aunt Reedie (Erma Marie) when I was a girl, about a miscarriage. She told of a day when they were out in the fields picking (probably cotton), when Other Mama, who was pregnant but the kids didn't realize it yet, felt faint and went to the house. She sat down in a chair and sent one of the girls back to the field to get Papa. She miscarried, rested for the afternoon, and was back in the field picking the next morning as if nothing happened.

My dad liked to tell of how a couple with so many kids lived in such small houses. He said most of their 'growing up' years, there was only one bed, so the youngest children were put to bed first. As they fell asleep in the bed, they were picked up and moved to pallets on the floor. Then two or three more a little older would go to bed and be moved or woke up enough to move to their pallet, until Papa and Other Mama would finally actually sleep in the bed. As the girls got old enough, they were 'roomed' out to screened porch for summers or under the roof in 'attic' space when it was colder. The boys found their way to the barn as they hit their teens when space in the house was occupied by younger kids.

Other Mama had 'squinty' eyes and those eyes passed right down every limb on the tree. It is a known fact that you can pick out 'a Horton' because we have no eyes when we smile or when we first wake up. Those eyes should probably be called 'Crawford' eyes since they are Other Mama's trait.

Other Mama raised 11 kids to adult (Ruby and Finis both are said to have died of the flu at early ages), and the entire group had musical talents. Many were left handed, but I don't know which hand Other Mama used. She was a generous woman who never had a lot, but shared what she had with anyone that passed through. She was reportedly an expert at knowing how much to cook. Her kids always said, "It's amazing, but she always knew JUST exactly how much to cook and not have leftovers." I figure that with 11 kids eating, she could have cooked the whole cow and not had any leftovers, but there were no starving folks, so maybe she DID know exactly what she was doing... At least the kids were convinced of it.

Uncle Dick (one of the lefties) would tell of everyone around the table while the blessing was said, and the kids would all have their fork in hand, have their piece of meat picked out and fork poised to stab the portion they wanted as soon as the "A" on Amen was spoken. This reportedly resulted in the occasional stabbing, but I knew all of my aunties and uncles and never saw any real evidence of anything but hard work on their hands. And I'm pretty sure Other Mama might have told a BIT different version had she been alive to tell me the story.

On Jan 12, 1964, Ada Bessie Crawford told Papa she was tired and sat down in her favorite chair to take a little nap. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and passed away quietly at the age of 75, one month shy of her 76th birthday.