Welcome to 2025! I hope everyone is having a good day. The weather is going to get nasty in the next day or two so everyone be warm and safe. This week’s article is also taken from the book “Blow Your Smoke Toward the Sky” written by Ashley N. Beasley.

A Texas Welcome for Three Alabama Teenagers

It all started before the Civil War when 3 brothers, teenagers, ran away from their Alabama home and headed for Texas. The 3 brothers were Jim Crump, Willis Crump and Robert Crump. As the story goes, Robert Crump, the youngest of the three, gave his brothers plenty of anxious moments on the trip to Texas. Robert was an avid hunter and wanted to stay away and hunt squirrels. So, it was necessary for the older brothers to keep an eye on him. The three brothers fought in the Civil War where Willis Crump lost his life. He is buried near Mansfield, Louisiana.

After the war was over, Jim Crump and his brother Robert Crump settled near Silas and Mt. Olive Baptist Church on land given to them by their captain under whom they served in the War. The Jim Crump home and the Bob Crump home are near each other and to pass these old homes you just must feel Silas and Shelby County history. Bob Crump married Sarah Nolen and they raised 8 boys and 4 girls to be adults. One boy, Grover Crump, age 88, now lives in the old home place. The oldest child, Allen Crump, was born November 13, 1868, and was married to Frances M. Anderson in November 1890.

Frances M. Anderson, her parents and grandparents were from the state of Maryland, later coming to Louisiana and finally to Nacogdoches. It is this family, Al Crump and his wife, Fannie Crump that I knew so well since about 1904 to the present time. Their home was about one half mile from Silas at the Oxsheer and Hollow Rock Mountain Spur, on the road to Stockman. It was a large home with the big hall open all the way and with a real big kitchen and dining room where I enjoyed some very fine meals as a boy. This home just seemed to be the very center of all community activities and affairs.

It was at this site that Al and his bride Fannie Anderson settled down to carve their farm out of the fertile Bayou Creek bottom. It was here that six children were born and living. Someone has said that if it is possible for the unexpected to happen, it will surely happen. And it did for this family, for on December 24th, 1903, Mr. Al Crump died at an early age of only 35. This left Mrs. Fannie Crump a widow with six children to raise and the oldest child was Joe Crump, only 12 years old at the time. The other children were Sadie Beasley, Ora Crump Crawford, Forrest Crump, Addie Mae Crump Stockman, Newtie Crump and Allen Crump, who was born in 1904 after his father’s death.

Joe Crump, at age 12, had to take the place of his father. He did this in a most admirable manner. At age 15, he went to work for the railroad on the section gang under Mr. Robert Treadway, the section foreman at that time. I can see Joe Crump as a boy, leaving his home each morning with his dinner bucket in his hand, loaded with biscuit, a bottle of syrup, a baked sweet potato, ham, boiled egg and sausage. They would lift the hand car onto the railroad track and of all the pumping you could think of started. Finally, the little car would be stopped, and the repairing act would take place. Joe tells us he was paid $1.40 per day and the railroad took out 40 cents for insurance each month. Joe Crump, now approaching 88, is erect, agile, very articulate with a mind like a steel trap, and is considered now as always one of the leading citizens of Silas and Shelby County.

Mrs. Fannie Crump opened a charge account at Mr. Will Crump’s stone in Silas. Each month when Joe was paid his check for $1.40 per day, he would pay up the bill for groceries that were not raised, including chill tonic. Mrs. Fannie Crump’s home was a home for everyone, not only her relatives and close friends, but many outsiders. Her granddaughter, Mrs. Lamar Perkins, the correspondent for Silas for the Champion at Center tells me that on one occasion 46 people, relatives, and others, spent the night in this friendly home. She rallied all her children together to all work hard, do right, think right, and act right. Her plan and motto were this: “If we consume it we will produce it.” This plan worked for this lady who was left a widow and no insurance. In chapter 1 of this series, I promised to name the greatest lady who lived in Shelby County during these early days. My nomination now goes to Mrs. France Anderson Crump of Silas Community, mother of 7 children, 6 of them now living, 20 grandchildren, 45 great grandchildren and 46 great-great grandchildren now are living. In the Timpson telephone directory on this date, May 27th, there are 21 numbers listed of the Crump family. (Note: The book was published in 1981.)

Note: This is your reminder that the 2025 yearly dues for membership to the Shelby County Historical Society (Museum) are due now. This is our main fundraising event for the year. Our membership list is getting smaller and smaller each year. The cost is only $25 per family. The museum is not supported by any organization so your help is truly needed. There will be a new exhibit by the end of the month so if haven’t had the opportunity to visit the museum to see the exhibit “Working on the Farm” you need to do so soon.  Everyone’s assistance with the museum’s exhibits is greatly appreciated. You are needed!!!

Do you have a LOVE of history? If so, would you like to volunteer at the museum; then come by and we can give you information of how to share the rich history of Shelby County. Volunteering would only require a few hours per week.