Delaware Officer (D.O.) and Grace Roger Nolan were married in 1910. He was 26 and she was 16. William Theodore (Theo) born in 1911 and Donis, born in 1913 were their first two children. They came to Dickens County from Locker, Texas in San Saba County in 1915. They stopped and picked cotton on the way and arrived with $100.00. For $60.00 down they purchased 60 acres from the Matador Land & Cattle Company. They built a shack on it to live in with the remaining $40.00. This was in the East Afton community, then known as Rip Shaw Valley. There were no roads in this area, just cow trails. Three more children were born to them in Dckens County. Twins, Irene and Inez were born in 1916 and Dorr, born in 1918. Inez died at a year and six months with the croup.
Prairie Chapel School was built about when Theo was 7 years old. He remembers it as two shacks pulled together. Mr. Spears was the first principal and he and Fred Arrington were Theo´s first teachers. There was a severe drought from 1916-1919 and no crops were made. D.O. got a job working on the first highway built in Dickens County from Spur to Girard in 1918-1919. His job was to check all the gravel. Austin Rose was the road contractor.
D.O. moved the family 12 miles west of Spur in the spring of 1919. It rained and they made a crop. Cotton went to 50 cents per pound and D.O. sold his for that, but some farmers held theirs until the first of the year and prices dropped to 5c per pound in one day. Theo went to Shinnery Twig School and West End School there. About 3 or 4 months was the school term then.
The family moved back to East Afton in 1923 and sold the 80 acres for $40.00 an acre. They bought 160 acres east of East Afton and paid $30.00 an acre plus $30.00 an acre to get the mesquite grubbed out of part of it. Dorr Blasingame still owns this farm today.
Schools were being built all around about this time. Croton, Midway, Duncan Flat, Chandler, Prairie Chapel, and Afton. All these schools later had good baseball teams and they would meet on Saturday and Sunday afternoons to play.
They just got their mail about once a month when they drove to Afton to get groceries. Finally, the first rural route was established and Austin Williams was the first mail carrier there. Austin Williams was also the singing teacher during summer singing school at Prairie Chapel. He was a former member of the Stamps Quartet. Grace loved to sing and play the piano. She and the kids walked to all the country singings. They had dances and parties on weekends at different homes for the kids´ entertainment. There were lots of local musicians. Square dancing was called "ring dancing". They walked, sometimes knee deep in snow to get to these parties.
Theo married Irene (Tommie) Vancleeve in 1926. He was 17 and she was 14. They now have four children: Nadine, Durwood, Darrel and Glenna, They also have 6 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.
Donis married Ross Murphy and she has one daughter, Vondell. She also has 3 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren.
Irene married Jack Jarvis. He was killed as a prisoner of war in World War ll. She has no children.
Dorr married Irene Reagan, They have one son, Geary, two grandsons and three great-grandchildren.
When D.O. and Grace left the farm to retire, they moved to Lubbock for their remaining years. D.O. sold Watkins products for several years. They were known as Big Dad and Mammaw to the grandkids, and I, being the youngest, have lots of fond memories of this colorful couple. Big Dad loved to dance-a-jig for his kids and our redheaded Mammaw never saw a stranger. She loved life and people and never quit singing.
D.O. died in 1967 at 63 years of age and Grace died in 1970 at 76 years of age.
.... by Glenna Blasingame RossSource: Dickens County History...its Land and People p. 43 ©1986 by Dickens Historical Commission
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