Many of my fondest childhood memories revolve around my grandparents on my mother´s side, "Oscar" and Beulah Davidson. They lived in Ralls, Crosby County, Texas, in a little white house close to the Ralls High School football field. Oscar was born August 25, 1902, in Hollis, Harmon County, Oklahoma, to James Marion Davidson b. abt. January 26, 1872 in Calico Rock, Izard, Arkansas d. October 20, 1954 and buried in Reddick Cemetery near Garfield, Arkansas, and Georgia Belle Shiplet b. October 20, 1878 d. July 22, 1917 and buried in Anniston Cemetery in San Jon, New Mexico.Beulah Ann Rogers was born August 10, 1907 in Province, Oklahoma, to John Isaac Rogers b. abt 1874 d. abt. 1957 and Rosie Ellen Rodgers b. abt. 1878 d. 1941 in Dalhart, Texas.
Oscar and Beulah were married in Tucumcari, New Mexico on January 24, 1925. Children of Oscar and Beulah were twin girls who died shortly after birth: Dessie b. 4-11-1926 d. 4-12-1926 and Jessie b. 4-11-1926 d. 9-10-1926. Both are buried in Anniston Cemetery in San Jon, New Mexico. They later had a son, James Oscar Davidson b. October 5, 1928 d. September 5, 1978, and another daughter (my mother), Mary Louise Davidson b. February 8, 1929 and still living in Denton, Texas. Oscar and Beulah loved to fish. I remember many vacations where we drove to Tucumcari, New Mexico, to visit Oscar´s brother, Melvin Edward Davidson and his wife, Kathleen. Melvin and Kathleen lived in an apartment above the Tucumcari fire department. It was always exciting to me to go there as Uncle Mel and Aunt Kathleen took care of feeding the prisoners in jail in the adjoining Police Department. Only one heavy door separated us from the jail area, and my heart would pound when Aunt Kathleen opened the door to wheel in their lunch cart. And believe me they were spoiled-no tv dinners for them. Aunt Kathleen spent every single evening making homemade macaroni and cheese, hamburgers, meatloaf, etc., and I was always excited when I got my tray of "prisoner food." There were windows on the second floor of the building where those same prisoners would hiss and whistle at me when I went outside to play. It was quite exciting. I also remember a huge bell that would toll on the hour at the church across the street, and I always made Granddaddy take me downtown to this little drugstore where there was a huge rattlesnake in a bottle of formaldehyde.
The main reason Granny and Granddaddy went to Tucumcari was to go fishing with Uncle Mel and Aunt Kathleen. We would usually rest a day and then drive out to Conchas Dam where we would all fish for hours. Granddaddy got a kick out of how excited I would get every time I hooked a little perch.
One time my mother and me piled into Grandaddy´s old yellow truck with a camper and drove down to San Saba to go camping and fishing. My mother would always hook a carp with a long snout like a swordfish, and she would stand there and scream while it swung in her face when she pulled it out of the water. There were lots of watermoccasins and spiders, too, so I was always a little "creeped out." One night we sat down at the dinner table in the cabin, and when I picked up my cup to get a drink there was a huge Granddaddy LongLegs in the bottom. I didn"t know I could throw that far! There was also a little finch that had made a nest inside the cabin, and I looked forward to going there every trip so I could see "my bird". While we were in Tucumcari, we would always make a trip out to San Jon to see my grandmother´s sister and her husband, "Fronie" and Levie Wright. I hated to go there because Uncle Levie"s mother lived with them, and she scared me to death. She always dressed in a long black dress, and when we went there she would talk about cutting my hair off. But Aunt Fronie and Uncle Levie were great, so I"m glad now that I went.
I spent a lot of time at my grandparents" house. My grandmother always had a beautiful flower garden, and I loved to sit out behind her house with her. We had some metal chairs, and we would sit in the back yard and snap green beans or peel peaches for her to can. As we sat there I loved to watch the hummingbirds that would go to her flowers. Several times she gave me a big empty Mason jar so that I could catch a hummingbird. Once in a while I would think I would have one and would be so excited only to find out that it was just a big moth. But I did catch me a lot of lightning bugs in that backyard! There were also always baby kittens underneath the old shed that Granddaddy kept in the backyard. I spent hours trying to coax them from out from under the lawnmower. Once in a while I would get lucky and get one out. To this day I still love cats.
Granddaddy built a big barbecue pit in the backyard, too, next to the storm cellar. When my cousins, Kathy and Koebe Davidson, would come to visit we would have a great time making mud pies.
Speaking of the storm cellar, I spent many nights in that thing. We were always getting awakened in the middle of the night by the tornado siren, and we would run out there while Granddaddy held the door open. I still recall the smell of that damp cellar and the kerosene lamp and sitting there praying that nothing furry ran against my legs or crawled up my arm. One night a tornado came and blew two walls of their house away. That was scary. Many times Granddaddy would hold me on the top steps and hold the door open a few inches so that we could watch the tornadoes until they got to close to keep the door open. This may sound weird, but I miss those Texas thunderstorms. They were pretty cool.
Granddaddy was such a nice person. He had a really dark tan. He always told me that he was part Cherokee Indian, but of course, now that I am interested in genealogy I can"t find any proof. He broke wild horses for a living, and I inherited his love of horses. I have several pictures of Granddaddy with his horses. He also worked as a tractor mechanic in Ralls. I have heard that Clay Kimbrough or one of his relatives still has my granddaddy´s tractor and drives it to this day in the annual Ralls Parade. I would love to go see that. My granddaddy always called me "Shorty", and I loved to go to his shop and visit him. He was so sweet to me, and I miss him so much. He smoked while he was alive, and my mother used to get so mad at him because I would get him to let me crush out his cigarette butt in the ashtray. It was one of our little secrets, and he got a kick out of irritating my mother!
My grandmother was also wonderful. She didn´t like being called "Granny", but that is what I always called her. She was a wonderful cook and spent several years cooking at the school lunchroom. I was always considered "so lucky" because after school I got to go over to Granny´s house and eat leftovers from school lunch. She would bring home these huge cans of food, and it was great! (None of this garbage they serve nowadays at school!) It was all homemade. She also made the best sugar cookies in the world and the best apricot fried pies that I have EVER tasted. Her kitchen was full of great things that she would buy down at the Ben Franklin store. I still have her Shawnee Owl cookie jar, some chickens, a Granny Anne pitcher, and some other things. Some even still have the original sticker on the bottom: 79cents! Who would have thought that one day that cookie jar would be worth $100! Granny also loved to work with her hands. She was never idle. She made gorgeous doilies, crocheted beautiful pillows, embroidered dish towels and made lovely quilts. I have her scissors and an apron and a couple of hot pads that she made, and I treasure it all.
Granny was petrified of dogs and mice. I read a journal that was written by her sister, Mary, and it explained a few things to me. They grew up in very hard times. Mary was bitten in the eye once by a prairie dog, and on the New Mexico plains they were always dealing with mice and rattlesnakes. One day I was sitting in my carport, and I saw Granny running down the dirt road to our house. I thought she was laughing, so I was laughing, too. When she got closer I realized that she was terrified and was hysterical. Apparently a dog had gotten after her while she was walking to our house, and it scared her to death. I felt so sorry for her. Another time, my mother, Granny and me drove out to the country to pick corn and potatoes. I found a tiny field mouse and caught it and figured I would take it home for my pet. I was sitting between Mother and Granny when we left, and my mother was driving. So, I leaned over and said, "Granny, look what I found." I unfolded my little hands, and when Granny saw that tiny mouse she started to scream bloody murder. Within two minutes my seating arrangement had been changed from the front seat to the back of the truck.
One day when I was twelve, Granny, Granddaddy and me went outside of Ralls to go fishing. I remember a little fishing hole with no trees and a lot of cows. Granddaddy was nauseated, and as he had suffered several heart attacks, we became worried and decided to go home. When I got home, they dropped me off at the Crystal Theater to see "Spencer´s Mountain." Mother took my sister, Shellie, and Granny home, and Granddaddy left to run an errand.
While sitting in the movie, I got this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. I turned around in the dark theater and saw the silhouette of my mother standing in the door to the theater. I remember she was wearing a striped dress. I got up and went to the back with the most horrible sense of doom. My first thought was that my sister had ridden her tricycle into the road and been hit by a car. When I got to my mother she said, "Granny has died." In shock, I said, "You mean Granddaddy?" She answered, "No, your granny is dead. She died of a heart attack." We walked outside, and the only thing I remember is a friend of my mom´s walked up to me and asked me if I wanted a puppy. I was thinking, "What? A puppy? My grandmother is dead, and you are trying to give me a puppy?" We got in the car with my dad and started to drive to the hospital where they had taken my grandmother in Crosbyton. On the way, we saw the hearse going the other direction with my grandmother´s body in the back. She had died while doing the Peppermint Twist to make Shellie laugh.
I remember thinking I could not live without my grandmother, and I dreaded facing my poor granddaddy and sharing our loss. I recall walking into their house and seeing Granddaddy just sitting there in his favorite easy chair. We just looked at each other, and he grabbed me and we cried and cried. Granddaddy died almost one year to the day from my grandmother´s death. He had gone down to the barbershop to get a haircut from Mr. Railey. Mr. Railey loved my granddaddy and always gave him a relaxing neck massage. After he got his haircut and massage, he went home and later died from a blood clot going to his brain.
Today I spend lots of time thinking about my Granny and Granddaddy and cherishing every memory. I have several albums full of pictures and will post some of them so that you can see two of the nicest people that ever lived. The End
Submitted by: Judy Dianne Winn Wood
Ruben Oscar Davidson and his wife, Beulah Anne Rogers Davidson, came to Ralls in the summer of 1931 with their two young children, James Oscar, age 4, and Mary Louise, age 3.Oscar Davidson was born in Indian Territory in Oklahoma, near the small settlement known as "Bogey Depot," August 25, 1902. He was the third child of James Marion and Georgia Shiplett Davidson.
Beulah Anne Rodgers was born near Porter, New Mexico, August 10, 1907. She was the fourth child of John and Rose Rodgers. She and Oscar were married in San Jon, New Mexico in January, 1924.
Twin daughters were born to the Davidsons in 1925 (Jessie Norene and Dessie Lorene), but both died in infancy.
They moved to Dalhart in 1926, where Oscar worked as a cook at the De Soto Hotel. Their son, James Oscar "Jimmy," was born there October 5, 1927, and their daughter, Mary Louise, arrived February 8, 1929.
With the advent of the "dust bowl," the Davidsons decided to pull up stakes and they moved to Ralls. They came with Oscar´s partner, T. T. Willoughby, who worked with him at horse breaking, animal breeding, and a lumber trade. They broke horses for both saddle riding and wagon pulling. Their place of business became the present location of Abell Chevrolet in Ralls, 1977.
As irrigation sources began to be tapped, more and more farmers in the area turned to cultivating cotton, and Oscar became a tractor mechanic. He worked for Earl Elms at Allis Chalmers and for Ernest Kendrick at Farmall before opening his own place of business just after World War II. He served the farmers of the area in this capacity until his death, November 10, 1965.
Beulah was known by her friends and neighbors as the best of cooks. Sharing recipes and food from her kitchen was one of her chief pleasures. She operated a cafe for a period of time and later worked at the school cafeteria. She died November 29, 1964. The Ralls school annual was dedicated to her memory that year.
The Davidsons were members of Emma Church of Christ from 1950 to the time of their passing.
James O. graduated from Ralls High School in 1947 and attended Texas Tech. He married Darleen Ditmore September 15, 1950. They have three children, Kathy, Koebe, and Courtney. Except for a two year period spent in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as missionary to the deaf, Jimmy has resided in Lubbock since 1948. He is presently a hearing aid specialist, doing business at Better Hearing Aid Center.
Mary Louise married Burke Winn in 1946 and they resided in Ralls until his death in November, 1967. He was employed as a butcher with Piggly Wiggly Food store. They had two daughters, Judy and Shellie. Mary Louise married Bill Pearson of Ralls in December of 1968 and has lived in the Denton area since that time.
Source: "Crosby County History Book 1876-1977", Crosby County Historical Commission, ©1977
Transcribed by Cheryl McDonald
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