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This biography was auto-generated by a GEDCOM import.[1] It's a rough draft and needs to be edited.
Note: "Ackland Hartley Jones married Bessie Shaifer, who was a hard worker and devoted her life to her family.She would hunt all night or fish all day with her eight sons."
She and Ackland Jones were married in Port Gibson, Miss., by Rev. W. Dakin (grandfather of Tennessee Williams), in the Episcopal Church.
Ackland and Elizabeth came from families with quite different backgrounds. Ackland's people were successful merchants and sugar plantation owners. Elizabeth's life was one of the attractive, though somewhat humble, lives that came out of the farming era of Mississippi, when culture and wealth was at its best. Indeed, there being no boys in her family, and living remotely in Claiborne County, most of her young days were spent in private school. Here she learned music and math and the fine arts, to say nothing about the fundamentals of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Ackland first ventured in life as a civil engineer, worked for the most part for the Texas Central of the Santa Fe Railroad. he became interested in land titles and abstracts, so went to the University of Mississippi and graduated as a lawyer in 1900. He began to practice in the small town of Centerville, Mississippi. While there he met Elizabeth Shaifer, a concert pianist. Later, they were married in the Episcopal Church in Port Gibson. They had nine sons born to them, and after all were grown, adopted a daughter of 18 months whom they named Bessie Ruth. Living in the early days of their lives came hard, but it was not void of many happy hours and many wonderful experiences. They bought an old ante-bellum house in Woodville, Miss., just about two miles from town. The boys walked to school, and their father would be driven to work by one of the servants before sun-up. He possessed three different vehicles: a buggy, four wheel vehicle with a top and portable curtains in case of rain; a jumper, two-wheel vehicle without top or luggage compartment! It was very light and was designed to be used at the full speed of the horse; and then there was the surrey, a two-seated vehicle, a fringed top and portable curtains carried under the seat to be pulled out when it rained. Elizabeth took a great interest in the home, refurbishing the estate with the "glory of the past" as far as her limited money would permit. She also managed the vegetable garden, cared for several hundred chickens and milked from two to fifteen dairy cows. She had four regular servants: Pinky, the wash-woman and house cleaner; William, Pinky's husband, who also cared for the farm and looked after the eight boys; Uncle Jim, who raised the feed for the horses, chickens, pigs, and cattle; and then there was Aunt Nancy, the cook. Nancy was said to have had seventeen children and when she was caring for a baby, Pinky would take over the kitchen duties. It was said that even the dogs wouldn't eat her bread! Meals, though were always good, for nothing was ever served without mother's supervision. For breakfast, we always had grits, ham, bacon or sausage, hot biscuits, fresh butter, and penty of milk. Breakfast was usually tipped off with a huge serving of Louisiana molasses. Sopping was never permitted. Usually the surrey would come for us at lunch time when we were in school. We would have an hour, but no one said anything if we took an hour and a half. The meal was the "heavy meal of the day". Always vegetables, sometimes as many as seven or more, potatoes, or rice and fresh beef or pork raised on the farm. Our cows and pigs were sold to the local butchers, who would give us credit for what we bought. My, how we would fuss when his meat was of such poor grade!!! Never did we have biscuits for dinner, only corn bread, in the form of either sticks, muffins, or pan baked. Everyone would grab for the corner pieces of the pan backed bread as it was so much better. Supper was always a cold affair: leftover vegetables and meat from the mid-day meal. There was no limit to the amount of home made preserves, especially peeled fig, home extracted honey or molasses that one could have. But, never sweet milk, always "clabber". The clabber comes from the milk set aside to sour and have the cream skimmed off to make butter. Sometimes, the clabber has processed and served with thick, rich cream for breakfast! Our school was a thing of joy. The grades were combined in a single room, no matter how many pupils, pur teacher mastered the situation. Around her desk there were "recitation benches"; a whole class would be called up at a time. Some would write, others would go to the chalk board, while others were allowed to work alone under supervision. All grades would enjoy the recitations of the other. Teachers were soft spoken, well mannered, and very grateful women; never did a man teach in those days. Pupils would always love their teacher, and she would visit in their homes, sit with her pupils in church, and attend many of the family festivals, such as baptisms, birthdays, and other glad occasions. Never a day passed when there wasn't a line of pupils bearing the teacher flowers, fruit, and fresh meat or produce from the farms. The church was the real center of all community activities. Each Sunday the family went in the buggy and/or surrey, Dad and Mother and two of the babies in the buggy and six of the boys in the surrey. The surrey was pulled by a large horse. Papa's brother Sidney, who lived in Centerville would often bring his six children, and we would all go to visit grandmother who lived in town. My mother's parents were Methodists, and since they lived on a plantation some seven miles from Port Gibson, they didn't attend church as often as they would have liked. However, they kept the faith, reading the Bible, singing hymns at the piano, and refused to work their horses on the Sabbath, even for a joy ride. They had no radio or TV and could not get a Sunday paper until late on Monday afternoon when the rural carrier would bring the mail. They, too, lived a life of hardship; that is, they raised their own food, turned their own fiber into clothing and bedding, and had their own methods to care for the health of their bodies. Neighbors would help to bring children into the world, and many home remedies were used to care for the ill. Coal oil and sugar mixed for sore throats; lard and mustard took care of chest colds; and homemade splints were used for broken bones." memories written by one of the eight Jones boys
John Grantham Guice family Bible.
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Elizabeth is 24 degrees from Herbert Adair, 21 degrees from Richard Adams, 19 degrees from Mel Blanc, 26 degrees from Dick Bruna, 19 degrees from Bunny DeBarge, 32 degrees from Peter Dinklage, 20 degrees from Sam Edwards, 15 degrees from Ginnifer Goodwin, 21 degrees from Marty Krofft, 15 degrees from Junius Matthews, 11 degrees from Rachel Mellon and 20 degrees from Harold Warstler on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.