A Wilson Family Tree
Notes for David Elmer Gathright
David Elmer Gathright was born in Collin County, Texas, in 1892. Some notes written by daughter Ila (obtained on 13 May 2017 from Betty Haralson) say that he “was born in Collin County Texas, a few miles south west of Vanalystine Texas almost on the bank of Eastfork of Trinity River”.
Elmer lived and farmed in Oklahoma most of his adult life, but there were short periods when he tried his luck other places. From spring 1926 till late in 1928 he moved his family to California. Note that this was before the big Dust Bowl drought and migration of “Okies” to California in the 1930s. After coming back from California, they moved to a farm near Dill City, Oklahoma. Then, in the mid-1930s they moved near Amarillo, Texas, for a short time. That move probably had to do with Elmer’s father being in Amarillo; his mother died there in 1934. (According to a map in Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_Bowl] the Dust Bowl conditions around Amarillo were actually worse than the conditions around Dill City.) They moved back to the Dill City area, but not to the same farm as before. In March 1938 they moved to the farm they would stay on for good. Elmer rented the 80-acre farm for several years, and bought it in the mid-1940s. According to his son Glen, they did not have electricity until 1949, at which time they also built a new farmhouse. Elmer lived there the rest of his life. Some years after Elmer’s death, son David and his wife Wilma moved to the farmhouse. They built a new house right next to the old one, and after it was finished the old house was sold and moved to a new location several miles away, near Cordell, Oklahoma.
When I was growing up, we always spent a week at the farm for our vacation. It was a good experience to get out of the city to the country. It's really a different world. Uncle Glen was living with Grandma and Grandpa on the farm, and Uncle David and Aunt Wilma and their family lived nearby in the town of Dill City, so we always saw all of them. Other aunts, uncles, and cousins would sometimes be there at the same time we were. I did a lot of things with Gordon, who was just a year younger than me, but it was a little hard on Cathy because she was quite a bit younger than the other girls. At times, all of us would play games together, from card games and board games to play-acting. I learned to ride a bicycle at David and Wilma's house one summer. I don’t remember Grandpa saying much. He always seemed a bit stern and forbidding. One of the most memorable visits was at Christmas time 1966, on the occasion of Grandma and Grandpa’s 50th wedding anniversary. Just about everybody came for that, and those of us visiting were spread out among the local houses, with us kids mostly sleeping on the floor wherever there was room. The atmosphere was very festive and fun for us kids.
Newspaper obituary (don't know the newspaper or date):
David Gathright of Dill City dies
David Elmer Gathright, 83, of Dill City died at Clinton Wednesday, Sept. 29.
Gathright, the son of Franklin Gathright and Cordie I. [sic] Shadrick, was born Oct. 24, 1892, in Texas and came to Washita county in 1918. He engaged in farming.
He married Rosie Mae Kanouse in Anadarko Dec. 23, 1916.
Services will be held 2 p.m. Friday, Oct. 1, in the First Baptist Church of Dill City with Rev. J.R. Sammons and Rev. Bill Heath officiating.
Burial will be in the South Burns cemetery near Dill City.
He is survived by his wife, Rosie, of the home; three sons, David L. Gathright of Fort Supply, Jesse Gathright of Springfield, Mo. and Glen Gathright of Dill City; two daughters, Mrs. Ila Haralson of Lubbock, Texas and Mrs. Audrey Wilson of Albuquerque, N.M.; one brother, George Gathright of Monte Vista, Colo.; two sisters, Mrs. Lois Foster of Dallas, Texas, and Miss Evelyn Gathright of Amarillo, Texas; 15 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren.
Excerpts from "Conversations with Ila Haralson, Late 2014 to Mid 2015" by Betty Haralson:
[About living in California when Ila was a child] When we were out in California, there were so many pretty flowers and fruit trees. Later on they just made all those pretty orchards into nothin’ but houses. We made 3, at least 2 visiting trips back to see kinfolk.
Arlan: How long did you live there?
... Three years. Momma and Daddy got homesick for Oklahoma. Him and Uncle Henry [I believe this is Henry Morgan] was in the nursery business. They sold nursery stuff and alfalfa hay and stuff like that. I think the agreement was they would be in business together with those nurseries. I don’t think they had any fruit trees, had some vegetables and other fruit and alfalfa hay. They had irrigation out there. They did a lot of irrigation out there. They had a lot of nurseries out there where we lived. But you know, kinfolks were closer then, a lot closer than they are now. When we made those trips back to go to Oklahoma you know what we made all them trips back for, what they were homesick for? To see all their kinfolks. We’d go around and see all of Momma’s folks and then go around to see all of Daddy’s kinfolks. We were just busy seeing everbody.
...
[Asked about how her parents first got together] We lived down there in that country around Foss or Custer City. I think I was born in Custer County somewhere around Foss out in the country. But they was, my daddy, and Grandma’s other kids went to school, the name of the school was Jones School. And, of course my grandparents lived down in that area also. And, uh, my daddy went to school there til he got out of the 8th grade. Grandpa was sick and my daddy had to take over the farm because Grandpa wasn’t able.
But anyway, they went in wagons when they rode, ... but they was a group of 'em going somewhere walking at night. They’d been to somethin’ over at that school, but momma was in the group I guess they were just scattered along the road and so somebody asked momma if she’d walk with them and she says, “I will if Elmer will walk with me”. That was when it all started. I guess they went together like that for some time. I don’t know how long it was before they got married. I don’t suppose it was a long courtship cause my mother was 18 when she got married. They’d just get a bunch of young people together and go to these, whatever it was that they was havin’ at school. And they had lots of entertainment at the school. And of course, the only way they had to go was, if they didn’t have a buggy to go in, they’d just walk.
...
[About moving to California] Yeah, Daddy bought a brand new Ford for us to travel to California in. No more ridin’ in horse and buggies or anything like that. We was in high cotton! We had a brand new Ford. I don’t know how long it took. It took quite a while for us to drive clear to California. Cause Daddy was trying, on our way he was trying to go see all his kinfolks. And he did, we’d just stop. It was just kind of a leisurely thing with us, but we had that brand new Ford tourin’ car. It only had side curtains for protection. ... I don’t know if it was in Arizona or California but the only, uh, only, they only had a road wide enough for one truck, uh, car. You was goin’ this way and that one’s goin’ this way, you couldn’t get off the road, no way. But, you know, this road that we was travelin’ on was just boards. And, but ever so long, if you saw another car comin’ over here, well you’d have to get off over on one of them side tracks. It was just a bunch of boards out there beside the road, you know, makin’ the road out of boards. That’s the only thing there was to travel on across that desert. See there was a big desert. I don’t know if it was in Arizona or in California but it’s out there. There is a desert there. And the road was going across that desert. But what we had to travel on was a road made out of boards….sticks, I’d say. But, uh, of course it wasn’t very long, probably two or three years til they had a pavement. But they wasn’t no pavement there when we traveled on it. That stuck with my mind as a little kid but ever so often they had a place out there where you could just get off and wait for the coming traffic to get by and if you seen one comin’, you’d better do that. Because there was traffic both ways, but the only place you had to get off that plank road was to get on that plank spot out there. But we bought a brand new Ford to do that…to travel to California. Uhh, I don’t remember how long we kept that car. When we moved back to Oklahoma I think we still had that car. But we carried our cooking utensils on the side of the car in a big bag. At places where you could cook we’d get off the road and cook out lunch or whatever time of day it happened to be. Cause it wasn’t no such thing as eatin’ in cafes or somethin’. We didn’t have that privilege. We had to cook our own meals out there. ...
One time we come across a, I guess it was a place where they was just brush and stuff growed up and we stopped, we stopped in an old building.I think what it was a pasture to spend the night. And Momma was just flat scared to death. She just knew we was in an old pasture out where the wild animals were or somethin’ and she was just absolutely scared to death. And Jesse was, Jesse was just a baby and on that trip that we were on then, Jesse was a little bitty baby. Momma was trying to wean him off the breast. And he’d just cry and he would just cry and cry and cry for Momma. And we would stop at one of those places to spend the night. And he was, uh, she was as scared as anything I ever seen in all of my life. Momma was always scared of things. Especially, if she thought Daddy had purposefully stopped in a cow pasture. She just knew it was a cow pasture and there was an old bull and he was gonna come and beat us up or whatever they do. (Laugh, sigh) But, you know, things like that, I can remember. Most things I can’t remember that happened even when I was older.
After all that about the new car and going to California, I can’t resist including this bit that I recently came across (https://www.thefp.com/p/tgif-debts-forgiven-and-debts-forgotten):
There’s a story that Joe Stalin showed the film version of The Grapes of Wrath all over the Soviet Union so his subjects could fully see the depredations of capitalism, especially as the Okies begin their sad exodus from the Dust Bowl to California at the end of the movie. But the takeaway by most Soviet viewers was that, in the United States, even the poor had cars!
The name on his death certificate is David Gathwright. Cause of death was pneumonitis. He died at Clinton Regional Hospital.
Headstone of his grave says D. Elmer Gathright; Oct. 24, 1892; Sept. 29, 1976.
From Carolyn Gathright:
[INTERNET]- Washita County Cemeteries, "Elmer"
Note: Some of the information in these pages is uncertain. Please let me know of errors or omissions using the email link above. ...Mike Wilson
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