Mattie Neil (Clark) Cavel (1904 - 1981)

Born 6 Aug 1904 in Saint Jo, Montague, Texas, USA

Ancestors

Daughter of Henry Calvin Clark Sr. and Mary Ellen (Hayman) Clark

Wife of Charlie Hall Cavel — married 7 Sep 1922 in Walters, Cotton, Oklahoma, USA

Descendants

Died 23 Dec 1981 at age 77 in Gladewater, Gregg County, Texas

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Deb Cavel [send private message]

Biography

Mattie (Clark) Cavel is the descendant of Palatine migrants.

Birth

^[1] Date: 6 AUG 1904
Place: Saint Jo, Montague, Texas, USA

Places she lived & some of her adventures

^[2] 1910 Census; Hope, Stephens, Oklahoma
Name Mattie Clark;
Age in 1910, 6; Birth Year 1904; BP OK (error);
Relation to Head of House: Daughter;
Father's Name, Henry Clark; Father's BP Texas;
Mother's Name Mollie Clark; Mother's BP Texas.

Mattie Was Once a Thief

Mattie's mother, Mollie Hayman, like a lot of women of her day, dipped snuff. One day when Mattie was about six years old her brothers and sisters dared her to steal and try some of their mother's snuff.

So she snuck in and stole a spoonful while her mother was out of the house. She mixed it with flour but she accidentally swallowed it and it made her terribly sick. She spent much of the afternoon in the woods behind the house throwing up. When she finally came back to the house Mollie looked at her and said, "I don't need to ask you what you did because I can tell. But you won't do it again will you?" And Mattie said she was never tempted to try snuff again although she did sneak the occasional cigarette.

School Days

Students and Teachers - Plato School 1915

Both Mattie and Charlie attended Plato School, along with their brothers and sisters. It wasn't an altogether happy experience for either of them. Mattie was a bright student who loved reading and committed what she read to memory. Their textbooks were the Classic Greeks, Homer and the Iliad, the Complete Works of William Shakespeare, the great poets. But she was left-handed, which the educational "philosophy" of the day deemed undesirable. She was forced to write with her right hand, and her clumsy attempts gained her the scorn of her teacher. She was forced to sit on a high wooden stool in the corner facing the wall, wearing a dunce cap, while her teacher led her classmates in a chant of "Stupid, stupid, stupid". All of her life Mattie was nervous any time she had to write anything. Her hands shook at the thought of picking up a pencil or pen.

^[3] 1920; Census: Wall, Stephens, Oklahoma
Name; Mattie Clark;
Age 15; Birth Year 1905; BP Texas
Relation to Head of House Daughter
Father's Name H C Clark; Father's BP Texas
Mother's Name Mollie Elen Clark; Mother's BP Texas
Speak English? Yes;
Attended School? Yes;
Reads? Yes; Writes? Yes.

Mattie the Puritan

Possibly because of their mother's "shameful" past (she was a divorced woman before she married Henry Clark) Mattie and her sisters were constantly cautioned that they had to be "good" girls. This meant that Mattie, even though she'd grown up on a farm, was totally innocent of the facts of life.

Her mother Molly died when Mattie was barely 16, and her married sisters were too bashful to answer her questions later. Shortly before her marriage Mattie asked one of her older sisters, who'd just had a baby, how one "got" a baby. The sister ducked the question by saying, "Oh, you'll soon find out."

So to Mattie a "proper and decent" relationship meant NO touching! After they were engaged Charlie leaned over from his seat in the buggy as they were headed into town one Friday night to go to the picture show, pecked her on the cheek and said, "I love ya, Matt."

Mattie reared up with as much affronted virtue as a 4' 9" young lady could summon and said, "WELL! If THAT'S the kind of girl you think I am you can just turn this buggy around and take me home right now Charlie Cavel!"

Married - Eloped?

Neither of their families wanted Charlie and Mattie to wed. Charlie was not of legal age to marry without parental consent, which was 21 for males. Mattie had just turned 18, which was the legal age for young women, but her father felt she was immature and not ready for the responsibilities of husband and home. She didn't need his consent but she still added a year to her age when they applied for the license. Charlie convinced his older brother Arthur to go along and speak as his "consent". The clerk obviously didn't ask for proof of identity, as Arthur signed as WL Cavel, and Charlie became HC Cavel, who said he'd been born in Randlett, Cotton County. Despite this skullduggery, the marriage lasted until Mattie's death in December of 1981, or 59 years.

photo of marriage License and certificate for Charlie and Mattie

^[4] Marriage Records. Oklahoma Marriages. Cotton County OK
Name: H C Cavel; Gender: Male: Age 21; Birth Date: abt 1901;
Born Randlett OK
Marriage Date: 7 Sep 1922; Place; Walters, Cotton County, Oklahoma,
Spouse: Mattie Clark; Gender Female Age 19 Born Unknown
Household Members
Name Age
H C Cavel 21
Mattie Clark 19

Motherhood

Mattie holding Ruby, Charlie holding niece Norene.

Here they are in about 1925, the 1st photo we have of them together and the earliest we have of Mattie. It spectacularly unflattering, with them staring into a brilliant sunset and deep shadows. Each has a small bonneted girl, my Mother holds my sister Ruby, who is two, and Dad holds Arthur and Fanny Clark Cavel's eldest daughter Norene Cavel who is probably just shy of three. I'm not sure of the occasion, but they are dressed up, so it might have been the wind-up dinner for the annual Cavel Reunion, held on Labor Day Weekend each year.

^[5] 1930; Census Place: Graham, Carter, Oklahoma
Address: Dirt Oil Field Road Magnolia Camp
Home Owned or Rented? Owned
Home Value $75
Radio Set? No
Farm? No
Age at First Marriage: 18
Able to Read and Write? Yes
Able to Speak English?Yes
Household Members:
Name Age
Charley H Cavel 25
Mattie N Cavel 25 1905 B TX Married
Ruby L Cavel 6
Hall Cavel 10/12
Harold W Cavel 10/12 (Harrell W)
Henry C Clark 70 Widowed - This is Mattie's father

The identical twin boys Hall and Harrel were 10 months old when the enumerator came around in April 1930. When Mattie was pregnant for the second time she suspected she might be carrying twins. She told the doctor she could feel two heads and two little behinds but he laughed and said he didn't think so, as he could only hear a single heartbeat.

When she was seven months she went into labor during a raging storm. The rain fell in sheets, and when they tried to get to the hospital the bridges on both exit roads were washed out. So they went back home and Charlie's brother Arthur went for the doctor on a horse. The doctor came and after 36 hours of labor Mattie delivered a tiny baby boy, with legs and arms the size of his father's fingers.

She told the doctor, "There's another one." He said he didn't think so, but at that point a second baby boy, identical to the first but even smaller, made his presence known.

The doctor looked them over, about two pounds each, and said they'd never live. Best to wrap them up and let them slip away quietly without too much fuss. But Charlie looked at his tiny sons and declared that as long as they were alive he was going to give them every chance he could to live. He was a farm boy and had experience keeping baby animals alive. He knew that it was vital to keep babies warm and the air they breathed warm and humid, and to handle them as little as possible.

He got an apple crate and lined it with a clean blanket. On the bottom he laid a thick layer of clean cotton batting with a layer of flannel on top. He made a pocket on each side with a folded blanket and slipped hot water bottles into the pockets.

The boys were laid in the apple crate with flannel beneath them that could be slipped out when it was soiled. Then a towel soaked in boiling water and wrung as dry as possible was laid over the top of the crate. As soon as it cooled it was replaced with a hot one. He laid the milk thermometer in the crate so he could make sure the temperature was stable and stayed a consistent 99 degrees. He and Arthur took turns on towel duty 24 hours a day.

Mattie expressed a little milk every half hour and Charlie fed the twins two drops each with a sterile eye dropper. And they lived through the first 24 hours, the first 48, the first week.

At the end of two weeks Charlie and Arthur had no skin left on their hands and arms to the elbows, but the weather had warmed up and boys were able to breathe room temperature air, and soon they were strong enough to nurse on their own.

Many men might have given up. Most premature babies died then, but Charlie was determined that his sons were not going to die.

^[6] 1940; Census Place: Centralia, Marion, Illinois
1935: Residence in 1935:
Greggton, Gregg Co Texas; Resident on farm in 1935? No

^[7] 1940; Census Place: Centralia, Marion, Illinois
HOH: Charley H Cavel 35 B 1905 OK Married
Occupation: Driller
Household Members:
Name Age
Charley H Cavel: 35
Mattie N Cavel: 35
Hall W Cavel: 10
Harrel W Cavel: 10

Never Cross a Hobo

Mama was little, never bigger than a 10-11-year-old kid, and her sister Eva, whom we all called Pete, wasn't much much bigger. The Halloween my twin brothers were 15 they blackened their faces and went out “slamming gates”, i.e. begging for Halloween candy.

It was 1944, wartime. Everything was rationed and pickings were slim. Mama ran out of candy to give kids early. Pete was visiting and Dad was working "evening tower", which meant he wouldn't be home 'til 1:00 am, so Mama and Pete decided to dress up like hobos and go out slamming gates themselves. They blackened their faces and stuffed their hair under slouch caps, pulled some of the twin's worn out work overalls from the rag-bag and laced some of their old boots over their own shoes. They agreed they looked pretty good, like a couple of half-grown boys, totally unrecognizable.

They walked a few blocks over to a row of houses where Mama wouldn't be recognized by the neighbours and started banging on doors. Pretty soon their sacks had an apple or two, a few suckers, penny candies, double bubble, Tootsie Rolls, and toffee bars. They were feeling pretty smug when a familiar voice hailed them from behind. "Hey! What you fellers doing in our territory?"

They turned around to face a gang of 15-16 year boys, including both of my brothers and several of their friends. And they didn't look friendly. One of the twins was swinging a sock with a fist-sized load of marbles tied in the end of it. "Gimme that sack kid," he said to Mama,"or I'm giving you a thump on the head with these marbles."

Mama narrowed her eyes, and steam just about came out of her ears, but she didn't dare speak. She handed over her sack to her son. "And you too," he said, pointing at Pete. Pete reluctantly handed over her sack. "Now git!" he said and he swung his sack of marbles and thumped Mama on the side of the head, catching her just above the eye.

Mama howled, reeling from the blow, then she and Pete broke and ran for home, scrambling and stumbling in their too-big-boots, with mocking laughter following them.

Now Mama had an Irish temper on her that was scarce contained on a good day, and this was definitely *not* a good day. As soon as she and Pete got home she clomped down to the basement and sawed two two-foot sections off a couple of old broomsticks. Then she stomped upstairs, took a couple of aspirin, wrapped a big chip of ice from the ice box in a wash rag, put it on the lump above her eyebrow and sat down at the kitchen table to wait for the twins. Her blackened face was not half as black as her mood.

It was a school night, and it wasn't long before the twins came through the door laughing and hooting, each carrying a very full sack of loot. They roared into the kitchen and came to a screeching halt when they saw Mama and Pete in the guise of the two hobos they had robbed - and assaulted - an hour before. Mama pulled the washcloth away from her brow to expose the purple goose-egg there, and the dried rivulet of blood.

She stood up, broomstick in hand. "Boys, it's like this. You give us your sacks, and the satisfaction of beating you with these broomsticks until you holler uncle, and I'm willing to tell your daddy that I ran into the doorjamb in the basement in the dark. Or you keep your candy and I tell him what really happened. It's your choice."

Well, Mama and Pete got their candy back, in spades, and they bruised both of the boys up pretty good, because both were too proud to holler uncle. She and Pete finally just wore themselves out.

I wasn't even born when it happened, and now Mama, Aunt Pete, my big brothers Hall and Harrell, Daddy - are all gone, and when I realize I'll never see, or hug, or kiss, or fight with any of them again I can't help but cry. The old Russian proverb says, “Our ancestors live, as long as they are remembered,” may be true, but no memory replaces sitting down across the table from them and sharing a meal, and laughing until you're breathless and crying.

^[8] 1950 Federal Census; Snyder Scurry Co Texas
9 28th 669 Cavel Charlie H Head 45 OK Driller Oil Field
10 28th 669 Cavel Mattie N Wife 45 TX Keeping House
11 28th 669 Cavel Claudette child F 4 IL

What a Pretty House! And Full of Family!

In 1950 Daddy was transferred to Snyder Texas for a short period of time. I don’t know who found the house for us, but I remember Mother saying it was “pretty” when Daddy pulled up in the driveway that morning.

It was furnished so all he had to do was unload and put on the table and kitchen counter inside were a few boxes of dishes, clothes and probably some towels and linen. Then he drove away.

It was an old house, made of stone and it had a big fireplace on the end wall of the living room. “It will be right nice to build a big fire in that fireplace on a winter’s evening,” she said, “but first we clean!” No one had lived in the house for years and everything was covered with a thick layer of dust. She started by taking the furniture covers off, and trundling them outside into the sun.

I think I noticed the first black widow spider and pointed it out to her. She told me to keep an eye on it while she dug a mason jar out of one of the boxes we’d brought with us. She popped the jar over the spider, and then started looking for a postcard she’d bought to send my sister the day before. She was sliding it under the jar, so as to catch the spider without hurting it, when I saw the second and third spiders.

I should stop to explain that though Mother was a committed Christian she still maintained enough of her Native beliefs to believe that a spider in the house could be the spirit of an ancestor ("An Old One") who had temporarily assumed the form of a spider, and had come to visit you. Thus killing a spider who had come into your house was to risk killing one of your ancestors. Hearing thunder on a clear day meant that someone had killed one of their “Old Ones”.

We spent the next hour catching and carrying dozens of black widow spiders outside. Finally she couldn’t handle the barrage of spiders. We carried our boxes out to the curb and when Dad arrived for lunch he found us sitting on our suitcases, waiting to be picked up.

This is their 25th Anniversary photo

Both Charlie and Mattie were somewhat temperamental, and each had a stubborn streak. I was told by my older siblings that there were a certain number of pots and pans thrown by the folks during their first 20 or so years of wedded bliss, but the disagreements had become, if not less frequent, then less vigorous, by the time I was born.

There were numerous times when Mother packed a suitcase and we went off on the bus for extended visits with various sisters, brothers, cousins and other relatives, but in large Southern families that's the way things were done in the 40s, at least in families like ours. It helped to have eight siblings each and 100+ cousins. Most of our people lived on farms, and an extra pair or two of hands in the garden and kitchen were always welcomed. I'm still trying to sort out who some of those people were and how they were related.

Eventually, absence did make the heart grow fonder, and after a few weeks cooling off period, Mother would find the thoughts of Charlie Cavel and her own home tolerable again and the green Pontiac would pull up in front of Auntie Ivah's or Pete's or Uncle Tut's or Bertha and Lester's and we'd be on our way home. I was always glad, not because I didn't love the aunts, uncles and cousins, but because lots of those families still had outdoor toilets!

Mattie and Charlie circa 1979

In the last 10-15 years of their lives Mattie and Charlie lived in White Oak Texas, on the property of their son Hall, where he made sure they wanted for nothing. God Bless him, he had a heart of gold.

• 1973; White Oak, Gregg, Texas Source: Page: 1,2272::1411759

Death

Death: Texas, Death Certificate,
Name Mattie Neil Cavel;
Birth Date 6 Aug 1904;
Birth Place Texas; Gender Female; Race Caucasian;
Residence: White Oak, Gregg, Texas;
Spouse: Charles Hall Cavel;
Father: Henry C Clark;
Mother: Mary Ellen "Molly" Hayman;
Age at Death 77;
Death Date: 23 Dec 1981;
Death Place: Gladewater, Gregg, Texas

Burial

From Find-A-Grave Memorial #12618984
Mattie Neil "Little Matt" Clark Cavel
Burial: Memory Park, Longview, Harrison County, Texas,
Birth: Aug. 6, 1904 Saint Jo, Montague County Texas
Death: Dec. 23, 1981, White Oak, Gregg County, Texas

Standing a mighty 4'9" tall, Mattie was a force of nature, and someone to be reckoned with. She was a lady who believed a heavy starch was necessary for cleanliness. She had a lively nature and was a natural born storyteller. She made the best pies and chicken dinners in Texas, and turned a pot of red beans and a pan of cornbread into a meal any king would envy. The world seems to miss her, and certainly the starch company does.

DNA

DNA: Date: 2012 Place: Maternal DNA marker is K1a10, Paternal DNA is Haplogroup R1b1a. Maternal K1a10 1st occurred abt 8,000 years ago in Ireland or "Doggerland". 500 years ago found almost exclusively in England, Ireland and a few coastal regions of Scandinavia. Paternal R1b1a is the dominant paternal haplotype found in Europe.

Sources

1. ↑ Page: Number: 326-22-5559; Issue State: Illinois; Issue Date: Before 1951. Source:
2. ↑ 1910 Census; Hope, Stephens, Oklahoma; Enumeration District: 0234; Roll: T624_1275; Page: 4B; FHL microfilm: 1375288; Dwelling #60, Fam #61;
3. ↑ 1920; Census: Wall, Stephens, Oklahoma; Enumeration District: 265; Roll: T625_1484; Page: 1B; Dwelling #14 Fam # 14
4. ↑ Marriage Records. Oklahoma Marriages. Cotton County 1922 - 1965 FH Film # 001313580
5. ↑ 1930; Census Place: Graham, Carter, Oklahoma; Roll: 1896; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 19; Image: 485.0. Dwelling# 85 Family# 85
6. ↑ 1940; Census Place: Centralia, Marion, Illinois; Roll: T627_852; Page: 61A; Enumeration District: 61-6. 848 1/2 Poplar Street
7. ↑ 1940; Census Place: Centralia, Marion, Illinois; Roll: T627_852; Page: 61A; Enumeration District: 61-6. 848 1/2 Poplar Street
8. ↑ NARA; Bureau of the Census, 17th Census, Record Group 29; 1950 Federal Census; Snyder Scurry Co Texas 208-16; pg 15