Category: Smithwick

Smithwick, The History of TexasLeave a comment

The Faith Family

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I had always heard of the Faith Family and knew there was a connection with them and Smithwick. Since they were all gone by the time I came along I never knew anything about them.I found this information online. There are references here to them operating a cotton gin in Smithwick and having members of both the Stinnett and Boultinghouse families (both of which I’m related on different sides of my family- R. Lewis) marrying into that family.It also gives a little insight into the old Jim Cox home that was across the street and where I spent many hours … Continue reading The Faith Family

Crazy Times, Smithwick, The Early DaysLeave a comment

Mind You, I’m Not Bragging

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But I’ll have to say that after going through an old box of papers, I have formed a different opinion of what was normal. These are papers I left behind at Smithwick when I moved on to start the “calmer period in my life”, when I got married, that my mother so carefully archived for me. I look back on my early “growing up years” and think that I was a fairly normal boy. I got into a few things, but nothing much that I was ashamed to admit. The following photograph is a vast array of traffic tickets I … Continue reading Mind You, I’m Not Bragging

Smithwick, The Early Days, The History of TexasLeave a comment

Cattle Guard Dogs

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A practice that I’m sure would get you locked up nowadays was to post a dog, chained up at each cattle guard along the country roads. There would be a dog house, to protect them from the weather, whether the hot sun or the freezing cold. The rancher would come daily and put out food and water for them. It seemed like a lonely existence, but I guess they served their purpose. Looking back I feel like that was mostly where goats and sheep were kept, but maybe wild cattle too. They may still be used in some places, but … Continue reading Cattle Guard Dogs

Cowboys & Rodeo, Crazy Times, Kenny Lewis, Smithwick, The Early DaysLeave a comment

The Sound of Hoof-Beats

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I was the kind of kid that wanted to ride a donkey while everyone else rode horses. Tar Baby was an average donkey to most but he was my pride and joy. We rode in rodeo parades with me dressed as a clown. Tar Baby & Me Kenny, my older bother was quite the horseman. He lived to break and train horses. I was made to help with the horse breaking, but it was something that I could have done without. By the time I was 7 or 8 years old our spending money came from working with Shetland Ponies. … Continue reading The Sound of Hoof-Beats

Kenny Lewis, Smithwick, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Old Lumber Company Ranch Gates

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Remember back when most ranch gates were made like the one in this picture. They all became roadside advertisements for the lumber company they came from. They were call “Can’t Sag Gates“. Maybe they should have been called “The Warp Like A Son Of Gun Gate“. Ronnie Lewis and Kenny Lewis in about 1955 Continue reading Old Lumber Company Ranch Gates

Another Daily Happening, Crazy Times, On The Job, Past Angora Chronicles Stories, Smithwick, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings5 Comments

The Disease

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It was in the hot summer time and I was out of school for the summer. I was about 14 or 15 years old and working for my Dad, Cecil Lewis. We were building a road down by Turkey Bend. Just country roads are all we built back then, hauling and spreading out caliche for new subdivision roads. I always ran the loader, loading the five or six dump trucks that hauled the caliche. The trucks were driven mostly by our school age friends, the ones at least sixteen and could get a commercial license. Socks Jackson was the mechanic … Continue reading The Disease

Cecil Lewis, Crazy Times, Past Angora Chronicles Stories, Smithwick, The Early Days3 Comments

Cec And The Soldier

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Cecil was my Dad. My brother and I called him Cec. No one else did. It was our name for him. He was from the old school as they say. He had a very rough exterior. Come to think of it he had a rough interior too. He was in the construction and trucking businesses. He worked hard his whole life. I always thought he was the toughest man I knew. He never backed away from anything or anybody. Once when I was about 13 or 14, my friend Billy Gene Henry and I accompanied Cec on a trip to … Continue reading Cec And The Soldier

Crazy Times, Funny Happenings, Kenny Lewis, Past Angora Chronicles Stories, Smithwick, The Early Days1 Comment

The Flying Stick

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It was my 16th year of life. My brother Kenny was in college up at Tarleton, his second semester and had moved into an apartment, that had formerly been occupied by a cop he was told. The cop had left a night stick behind. Kenny was sure that I would need that club one day, so he brought it home to me. He always looked out for me like that. The wooden stick had been drilled through the core had a steel rod inserted. I kept it stuck between the seat and the console. My means of transportation was a … Continue reading The Flying Stick

Amazing Things, Funny Happenings, Smithwick, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Falstaff Beer and My Uncle Oscar (Ott)

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This first photo makes me think about my mother’s oldest brother, Oscar Leland Boultinghouse.He was a fiddle player, that played around the Central Texas Area in many of the dance halls and was known as Oscar “Falstaff” Boultinghouse. I always supposed it was due to a beer company sponsorship, which was a popular thing back in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s.For many years, perhaps to the end, he had a special affinity to Falstaff Beer, his brand of choice. Continue reading Falstaff Beer and My Uncle Oscar (Ott)

Amazing Things, Cecil Lewis, Crazy Times, Funny Happenings, Smithwick, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

The Race Was On

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This is the story of one of the greatest car races ever held in Smithwick. His name was Curtis Brown Parker. Brown Parker was how he was known. Brown was the person my Dad looked up to more, maybe than anyone else. Brown was several years older that Cecil Lewis. I believe that Brown help him become a man in more ways than one in his early days in Smithwick, Texas.However in the 1940’s Brown and Eula moved to California, the same as a lot of people did during that period of time. They operated laundries in and around Carpentaria, … Continue reading The Race Was On