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"I married my husband March 23, 1933. After we married, we lived up across Bull Mountain Creek, near Cherry Tree Church. Cherry Tree was where my husband's people went to church and they buried there too. This was nearly fifteen miles from where I was raised and over in Itawabama County. Some of the Suggs family buried at Hopewell Cemetery. Cherry Tre was Hardshell Baptist or Primitive Baptist. Mrs Suggs was a Primitive Baptist. Her name was Sarah Lou Duncan Suggs. She was born in 1877 and died in 1958. Mr Suggs was John Hiram Suggs. He was born 1873 and died in 1934. Mrs Lou had a sister who married Mr Sugg's brother-sisters marrying borhters. But I don' remember their first names. Mr Sugg's father was Joel Green Suggs who was born in 1828 and died in 1897. He was buried at Hopewell. His mother was Orrie Elizabeth Bowling Suggs who was born in 1813. Her mother was an Awtry.
My husband cut timber and logged. Of course, he farmed some too. He did some public work too, hauling gravel and dirt. Then in later life, he had a shoe shop in Smithville. He took his training under Mr Alexander, in Amory. This was Phil Alexander's daddy. Phil was a pharmacist. He is dead now. Then, my husband bought Mr Earl Goddard's shop here in Smithville. Mr Goddard had a shoe shop and dry cleaning place just across the highway. Coy worked for Mr Goddard for a while. Then when Mr Goddard got ready to sell out and retire, my husband bought him out.
Phil Alexander was a little bit older than my son John Wesley Suggs. One time he gave John Wesley a BB gun. This was during World War II and everything was rationed. They rationed sugar, and cloth and just about everything. You couldn't buy anything ready made. Coy had to have some short sleeved work shirts. He wore khaki clothes to work. This was when he was working for Mr Alexander. I couldn't buy but just so much material. And I couldn't get just any kind I wanted either. I had always sewed. I made my sisters' underneath clothes, after my older sister married. So, I decided to make my husband some short sleeved shirts. Back then, you didn't have bought patterns, you had to cut a pattern for yourself. I had an aunt who was a good seamstress. She made all of my sister's and my clothes when we were small. My stepmother couldn't sew. Of course, she could do straight sewing, but not dress making.
Back during WPA, there was a group of us here in Smithville that sewed for the people that drew commodities. We made them some clothes. We worked for Mr Frederick. That was Jerry Lee Frederick's daddy. We had a sewing room up town here over that old bank. We first started sewing down at Amory, then those of us who live up here, moved into the upstairs over the old bank. We made men's long handled underwear and put draw strings in the bottom. We made shirts with fitted collars. My supervisor was Mrs May Nabors."
Do you remember any of the boys from this area who went away to World War I ?
"No but my oldest brother, Alvin, nearly had to go. He went and had his examination and passed it, the day that the Treaty of Peace was signed. My daddy and him rode that little Mississippian Train to Amory. Then, they went on to Aberdeen. That was Alvin Maxey. He lived to be eight six. He was the oldest one of my mother's children.
Melvin Maxey was one of my brothers. When World War II came along, he had to go. He was there when it ended. He was across, but he was a guard at the airbase. He didn't ever have to fight in combat. I think that he may have been in Germany.
My husband and I had four children-two boys and two girls. Weda was the oldest. She married Spencer Hudson. Next was John Wesley Suggs. He married Lella Cole. They live at Hatley. Then there was Edward Cleveland Suggs. He lives here with me. Virginia Lane Suggs was my last. She married Donald Booker."
Tell us some more about what life was like when you were growing up.
"We lived out in the country and couldn't get to town all the time. We had a little neighborhood store about a mile form the house, that we could walk to and get some things. Jimmy Durrett and his wife lived there by the store, and she had a cow named Minnie. She had a Minnie cow and a Minnie the cat. I didn't like that at all, because they had my name.
Our nearest neighbors were the Bowlings and Faulkners. We have a ball coach here at Smithville, who is the Bowling grandson-Dwight Bowling. {This is MY brother} Bud Faulkner is the son of the Faulkner neighbor. The Faulkners were Meek and Clara Bell Howell Faulkner. The Frank Bowling's lived on one side of us and the Faulkners on the other side. Did any of you ever know Ruby Bowling? I don't guess you all did. She had been dead for a long time. She was younger than I was."
Why are some of the Maxeys buried at Siloam Cemetery and some at Maxey Cemetery?
That is my grandparents that are buried at Siloam, and some of their children. Benjamin Maxey who was born in 1818 and died in 1886 and his wife, Martha Ann West, who was born in 1824 and died in 1902, are the grandparents. The Cantrell (Riley Durant) who is buried there with his wife-the wife was a Maxey.( Riley Durant Cantrell, the son of William O Cantrell and Martha Elionor Govan Cantrell was born in 1857 and died in 1926. His wife was Sarah Elizabeth Maxey 1858-1942 who was the daughter of Benjamin Maxey and Martha Ann West Maxey.)
Then there are the Wright's. One of the Maxey girls married a Wright and the Thompsons are their kin, also the Codys. (R F Wright 1842-1919 married Charlotte Maxey 1844-1888. Charlotte was the daughter of Benjamin and Martha Ann West Maxey.)
Tell us about the Suggs pottery.
"That was Bill Suggs. He was an uncle of my husband's. His whole name was William D Suggs. He married Lula Wigginton. Mr Summerford that worked at the Suggs Pottery made Weda a little churn. You remember it don't you, Weda? He made her a little churn and put "W S" on it. It stayed out in the smoke house for along time. That is where I kept my churn, that I used all of the time back when I had a cow. Then yours came up missing, after they went to getting these anitques up here and there. Somebody got it when we were gone one day.
The pottery was not too far from Pearce's Chapel. Now, there was another pottery later on over by Springfield's. That one was run by Uncle Bill's only daughter Verna and her husband Joseph Duncan. That was after Uncle Bill died. Verna and Joseph made flower pots at their pottery.
Uncle Bill had his pottery about fifteen miles from Smithville, on the way to Cherry Tree. My husband's daddy, John Hiram Suggs, worked for the pottery. He went on the road, hauling pottery in a wagon all over the place. He would be gone for a week at a time.
Then later on, the pottery was moved out near Pearce's Chapel. After Uncle Bill got old, some of the Summerford men ran the pottery. It was the Summerfords who made your little church, Weda. They made up the clay into shapes all day and fired them in the ovens at night. They fired the ovens mostly with wood and maybe some coal. I think that they used two different kinds of clay. They could make up the molasses jugs into two different colors.
What we all called it was Sugg's Jug Shop. One of the roads up there is called Jug Shop Road.
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