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| Research Note | Frank Preddy was not the first Preddy to come to Barry County. Their son, Thomas Jefferson, came into the area first.
George Frank and Haidee were born and married in North Carolina. Their first son, Thomas Jefferson, was born in North Carolina. George Frank and Haidee got itchy feet and one day they boarded a train for Texas. While in Texas they added three more children, Johnnie, Jess, and Cora. When they heard about the free government land in Oklahoma they got the fever to move again. They loaded all their belongings in a wagon and headed for the Oklahoma border. They ended up in Roger Mills County between Elk City and Hammond. There they homesteaded on one hundred sixty (160) acres. This area was mostly sage grass with very little timber. They built a home on the homestead. It was mostly a dug out in the ground. The houses built costly in the ground were called a Soddy. There was only a small amount of lumber to finish the top part of the home. This lumber was very expensive, however and had to be hauled from Elk City twelve miles away by wagon. The family did not have money for very much lumber. Here they lost Johnnie added Ardelia to their family. They had a girl, Josie Ardelia (Deal) born during a storm. The storms were not unusual for that part of the country. However this was a severe storm and the family had gone down into a storm cellar in the ground while in the storm cellar Josie Ardelia was born. There wasn’t much for a teenage lad to do on the prairies of western Oklahoma. Thomas Jefferson Preddy began to have the wanderlust. He spent some time here and there. One day he met a man who was taking some horses to Cassville, Mo. He was invited to go to Cassville and ride a horse. After surveying the Cassville area, he saw all the trees and lush green grass. He was amazed at such a site. It was nothing like western Oklahoma prairie and sage grass lands. One day he wandered upon some large blackberries. He couldn’t believe his eyes. He picked a container full and took a picture of the black berries to send back to his parents. He told them in his letter that there were all kinds of produce growing big and lush in the Cassville area. He wanted his parents to move to Cassville. After a period of time the family loaded up the wagon again and headed for Cassville. By the time they arrived in Cassville, Tom as he was affectingly called had met a girl he wanted to get to know better. The family had been in Cassville for a few months when Frank developed a serious illness. After a period of time, Frank wanted to return to western Oklahoma where some of his relatives lived. The family returned to western Oklahoma. In a few months Frank passed away. As time passed Haidee Preddy and her daughters, Cora and Ardelia, returned to Cassville where Thomas was living. By this time he had married, Beulah Sanders, the girl of his dreams that he had met earlier. To this union three sons were born. Tom Preddy and Beulah with their younger son, T. J. went to Michigan to work as the war clouds were gathering about 1940. While in Michigan T. J., a sixteen year old drowned. They brought his body back to Cassville for burial. Tom and Beulah came back to Cassville after their son had passed away. They started a fruit stand. They went to Monett and Joplin to wholesale houses and bought fruit and some other things to sell in their stand. Their business did well. Soon they were able to get in a building. After they were in a building for sometime, the owner of the wholesale house in Monett call Tom one Saturday morning and said that he had a lot of bananas that was going to ruin. He wondered if Tom could use them. Tom and two of his nephews, Jack and Floyd Tucker, went to Monett and brought back about 400 stalks of bananas. The stalks had several dozen bananas on each of the stalks. He sold the stalks for 75 cents a stalk. During that Saturday afternoon any direction one would look up and down the streets one could see people carrying a stalk of bananas. By 4 p.m. that Saturday the entire banana was sold. Tom did well in the store. His son Robert came back from Michigan and helped him in the store for several years. Robert sold cars, also. He would go to Michigan and get cars and bring them back to sell. He did quite well with the cars for many ears. In later years Robert and Gerald had a tool making shop. They made special tools for different companies. Jess married Ima White they had five children. Since both boys were getting settled in Cassville Mrs. Haidee Preddy and her daughters, Cora and Ardelia, returned to Cassville to make their home after her husband passed away in western Oklahoma. The oldest girl, Cora, married the brother of Tom's wife, Clarence Sanders. They had 8 children. In those days there was little work for a widow lady to do. Mrs. Preddy did sewing for people to support herself and daughter, Josie Ardelia. Ardelia had to drop out of school in the seventh grade and work to help her mother make a living. Ardelia, as she was called by most people, worked at a bakery for some time. She developed a friendship with a daughter of the man who owned the Cassville Democrat. There came an opening in the newspaper office and she started working there. She fed the press as they called it to print the newspapers. After spending some time there she was able to get a job at the telephone office as a telephone operator. Ardelia worked at the telephone office until she met and married Oliver Tucker in June of 1926. Oliver Tucker was a native of the Eagle Rock area. They made their home in the rural Cassville area. They had two sons. This history of Frank and Haidee Preddy is written with pride and appreciation of the contributions and sacrifices our fore-fathers have made during their lifetime. The present and future generations should be grateful to the past generation for all that has been done to bring us to the present with all our conveniences and privileges. History does not record all the trials and hardships Frank and Haidee endured as they made their way from North Carolina to Cassville, Missouri. Because of their continual trek forward looking for a better way of life, they came to Cassville. Here their children stayed and raised their families. Their decedents have made contributions in their own way toward the betterment of mankind. Thus the writer of this article recognizes with pride and appreciation the contributions of those who have gone on before. The writer believes that future generations will come to know and appreciate their heritage. These historical memories were compiled by Sarah Tucker Poff with the assistance of her father, Jack Tucker and oral history given to them by Ardelia Preddy Tucker. Blackberries Bring Preddy Family to Cassville Tom Preddy, a young man from western Oklahoma, traveled the country side looking for work. One day he met a man who was taking some horses to Cassville, Mo. He was invited to go to Cassville and ride a horse. After surveying the Cassville area, he saw all the trees and lush green grass. He was amazed at such a site. It was nothing like western Oklahoma prairie and sage grass lands where he was from. One day he wandered upon some large blackberries. He couldn’t believe his eyes. He picked a container full and took a picture of the black berries to send back to his parents. He told them in his letter that there was all kinds of produce growing big and lush in the Cassville area. He wanted his parents to move to Cassville. This is what brought the Preddy family to Cassville. This is oral history told by Ardelia (Preddy) Tucker and Recorded by Sarah Tucker Poff. It must have meant a lot to Haidee for the blackberry picture to have been keep all these year. It would have been taken around 1914-1915. |
| Date Taken | Not Dated |
| Resource | Family stories and photos |
| Submitted by | Submitted in 2006 by: Sarah Poff |
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