June Alvin Smith

1883 - 1969  (85 years)

• Name	June Alvin Smith  [1, 2]
  Born	26 Aug 1883	Sabinetown, Sabine County, Texas   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Died	12 Jun 1969  [1]
  Notes	"Old Timers of Sabine County, Texas" by Virgie Speights Page 23 June Smith October 3, 1963 June Smith sat on the porch of his home near Pineland and regaled more than 100 persons at his 80th birthday party with tales of early days in East Texas. Born at Sabinetown, he was the son of Henry and Martha Ann Morris Smith, and grandson of Shadrach Morris, who gave 200 acres of land in the early 1830s to found Sabinetown. His great grandfather, Gideon Morris, had donated a like amount for the founding of Morristown, Tennessee in the 1700s. His father Henry Smith who died before he was born, came from England to teach school at Milam and Sabinetown. As a boy, he grew up the hard way, but with lots of fun and frolicking. He recalls working hard, long hours on logging rafts, floating logs to Orange. He did the cooking before he was old enough to push logs. Frank Davis, a mail contractor, hired him at the sum of $5.00 a month to carry the mail from Hemphill to Geneva, when he was just a boy. At the age of 18, Mr. Smith helped to move his sister and family, the Ide Russells from Louisiana across the Sabine to Sabine County. There was a post office, a church, a school, a doctor, F.S. Love and 52 families. June Smith stayed there and farmed, first with his sister's family and then with his own until recently when he had to move nearer a doctor. His wife the former Miss Vessie Brittain, is an invalid since a fall a few years ago, which broke her hip. His was the last family to leave this now deserted community. He moved over to Pineland to live in a house owned by his son, Brittain Smith, who lives nearby. He does, however, still drive over regularly to care for his cattle, fix fences and dream of wonderful years when he was raising his family there. Not long after he helped move the Russells in an ox-drawn wagon, he met and married Miss Vessie Brittain, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. T. S. Brittain. There was a church wedding in 1904 with Burnis and Mattie Lou Honeycutt Vickers as attendants. The Brittains gave the couple 67 acres on which Ide Rusell helped his brother in law build a two room house with cypress shingles, stick and dirt chimney, big rooms and wide porches. There they worked hard, were self-sustaining and gradually prospered, buying more land, clearing and raising cotton for money crop, sheep for clothing, and hogs and cattle. Mr. Smith refused to shear the sheep, but accommodating neighbors Abb Vickers and Perkins Harvey were willing to help out. He liked to raise hogs and trained his to come when he called. There was the whole country for the cattle, sheep, goats, horses and hogs to roam in, even being taken across the river into Louisiana when grass or cane shoots were better there. Nothing was wasted. When land needed clearing, the whole community came in to help. Cooking went on for days, with food being cooked in huge iron pots. It was a frolic for the young people, who were expected to help in the work, though. The logs were used for houses, barns, rail fences, stove wood, etc. At butchering time, the same community spirit prevailed and the same thrift and utilization of everything. Cold weather was necessary, and the meat saved by curing the smoke. Everyone had a smokehouse, quite large with a fire of hickory wood, kept smoldering for weeks in the center of the dirt floor. Meat was hung from the rafters to absorb that hickory flavor. "They don't make that kind of meat these days," says Mr. Smith. They made what they called souse, now known as hogshead cheese. Excessive fat was trimmed off, after the sausage meat was set aside, and rendered into lard. Big iron pots outdoors over a fire were filled with these bits of fat, which were slowly stirred until nothing was left but cracklings. From these cracklings came the family soap. Lye, leeched from hardwood ashes, mixed with the cracklings, water added and cooked until bubbly thick. When cool, this soap was stored in crocks and used at laundry time. Clothes were boiled, after being soaked in soapy water, placed on a block and battled. This was to removed embedded soil from work cloths. The Smiths owned a "crackling squeezer", a luxury in those days, which squeezed the last bit of grease from the fat. Cracklings were also delicious cooked in cornbread. They also had a fine sausage mill. Once Mr. Smith's four year old daughter, Eula, caught her finger in the sausage mill. Afraid to turn the mill for fear it would cut off her ginger, they carried her to Dr. Love, sausage hanging by a bit of skin. The doctor splinted it up and Eula, now Mrs. Judge Cordray, has her finger just a bit scarred. Mr. Smith was active in church and community affairs. When the Rev CA Perkins an outstanding evangelist in the area, established the Methodist Sabine Circuit with both sides of the river as his charge, he credited Mr. Smith with being a factor in its establishment. He also owned the second car in Sabine County, a beautiful Model T Ford. Besides Mrs. Cordray of Isla community, his children are Mrs. Zelma Blasingame of Garland, Texas, Reece Smith of the Sexton community, Brittain Smith of Pineland, and Aldous Smith, a Methodist Minister, of Dayton, Bulah, who married Roy Allen, died in 1930 and Clarence died in 1928. There are 19 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren. (Research):Census Information: 1920 Census Texas, Sabine, JP 5 Enumerated 16 & 17 of January 1920 by Callin A. McDaniel SD 326 ED 172 Sheet 10 A 184-185 Smith, J.A. Hd M W 36 M Tx England English Tx Farmer Own Fa rm Smith, Vessie Wife F W 34 M Tx Tx Tx Smith, Beulah Dtr F W 14 S Tx Tx Tx Smith, Eula Dtr F W 12 S Tx Tx Tx Smith, Myrtis Dtr F W 9 S Tx Tx Tx Smith, Reece Son M W 7 S Tx Tx Tx Smith, Britton Son M W 5 S Tx Tx Tx Smith, Clarence Son M W 10/12 Tx Tx Tx Jones, Casey Servant M B 19 S Tx Ga Tx Farmhand 1930 Texas, Sabine County, JP 5 Enumerated April 14 & 15, 1930 ED 202-7, Sd 19 Sheet 4A Stamped 88 72-76 Smith, June A Hd Y M W 48 M 23 Tx England US Farmer Smith, Docia M Wf F W 43 M 18 Tx Tx Tx Smith, Reece T Son M W ? S Tx Tx Tx Laborer Farm Smith, Britton L Son M W 12 S Tx Tx Tx Laborer Farm Smith, Zelma Dtr F W 8 S Tx Tx Tx Smith, Aldus Son W 6 S Tx Tx Tx Britton, Margarett A Mother in law F W 68 Wd Tx Ga Al Saupe?, Carme? Boarder F W 19? S Tx Tx Tx Teacher School
  Person ID	I15202	Strong Family Tree
  Last Modified	17 Aug 2014

  
  

  Father	Henry Clay Smith,   b. Abt 1828, England, United Kingdom ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Mother	Mary Ann Morris,   b. 18 Feb 1836, Louisiana ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Married	Bef 1868
  Family ID	F306	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Vessie Mae Brittain,   b. 1 Oct 1886, Time, Sabine County, Texas ,   d. 1 Oct 1968, Sabine County, Texas  (Age 82 years)
  Married	Abt 1904  [2]
  	"There was a church wedding in 1904 with Burnis and Mattie Lou Honeycutt Vickers as attendants.
  Children	1. Beula Ethel Smith,   b. Abt 1905, Sabine County, Texas ,   d. Abt 1930  (Age ~ 25 years)   2. Eula Mae Smith,   b. 19 Nov 1907, Sabine County, Texas ,   d. 26 Jun 1985, Nacogdoches County, Texas  (Age 77 years)   3. Myrtis Jane Smith,   b. 12 Jul 1910, Milam, Sabine County, Texas ,   d. 22 Apr 2005, Nacogdoches County, Texas  (Age 94 years)   4. Reece Thomas Smith,   b. 25 Apr 1913, Time, Sabine County, Texas ,   d. 29 Dec 2010, Sabine County, Texas  (Age 97 years)   5. Britton Love Smith,   b. 23 Jun 1916, Time, Sabine County, Texas ,   d. 29 Jun 1995, Nacogdoches County, Texas  (Age 79 years)   6. Clarance Adron Smith,   b. Abt 1919, Sabine County, Texas ,   d. Abt 1928, Sabine County, Texas  (Age ~ 9 years)   7. Zelma Mozelle Smith,   b. 21 Oct 1921, Hemphill, Sabine County, Texas ,   d. 26 Dec 2011, Dallas, Dallas County, Texas  (Age 90 years)   8. Rev. June Aldous Smith,   b. 7 Dec 1923, Sabine County, Texas ,   d. 2 Jul 2001, Nacogdoches, Nacogdoches County, Texas  (Age 77 years)
  Last Modified	17 Nov 2012
  Family ID	F1332	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 26 Aug 1883 - Sabinetown, Sabine County, Texas  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Sources

  [S461] White & Toole, "Sabine County Historical Sketches and Genealogical Records" c. 1972, p 33 (Reliability: 3). [S374] Speights, Virgie "Old Timers of Sabine County, Texas Vignettes of Pioneer Families" (S. Malone, c. 1983), p. 24 (Reliability: 3).