My husband's Aunt Barbara was always very proud that she was the only one of nine
children NOT born in her parents' sod house. Her mother went into labor while in town
and a woman there took her in to have her baby in a "real" house. Susan
Lawrence
"Jeff Carroll" <carrollj(a)suddenlink.net> wrote:
All of that sounds good to me. One of the problems on the plains was
that
there were no trees.
Thomas Jefferson called it "The Great American Desert" and predicted that it
would be 1,000 years before it could be settled. Land, however, has always
been a magnet. Since long before organized history, the control of land has
been the root of vast migrations of people and that's what happened to our
"desert". Poor Daddy couldn't carry a tune in a tub but one of his favorite
songs was "That little old sod shanty on my claim." Often, "soddies"
were
dug into existing slopes to take advantage of a really solid rear wall - not
unlike earth berm energy efficient houses today. There are several classic
photos of a family standing in front of their "home" while livestock grazed
on the roof. I've tried to send you a few pictures of similar structures.
Enjoy a good home!
Jeff
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lura" <luraj(a)triad.rr.com>
To: <carroll-dna(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Monday, December 17, 2007 10:41 PM
Subject: Re: [CARROLL-DNA] Off Topic - A gift to your Carroll Ancestor
> Jeff,
>
> I had never heard of a dwelling constructed just that way. Thank
> you for sharing that story. I knew the first settlers who sailed
> up the Hudson Bay arrived in the fall and lived the first winter
> in holes in the ground. No sod for walls there that year. How
> thankful I am for a warm house tonight - even if the natural gas
> will cost me more this winter!!
>
> I will contribute to start a fund to buy your grandfather, Amma
> Bass Carroll, a tarpaulin or another wagon sheet to go over those
> poles until at least Spring. I would suggest he add more polls
> however, or maybe whole trees would be better. That might keep
> another mother sow from falling through the ceiling of the
> bedroom... even if the piglets did fall into somebody's bed.
>
> But say...... Aren't there some of those FEMA trailers still down
> around Houston? And BTW - Do you think it would be all right if
> I send along a ten year supply of birth control pills as well?
> ;-)
>
> Lura
>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jeff Carroll" <carrollj(a)suddenlink.net>
> To: <carroll-dna(a)rootsweb.com>
> Sent: Monday, December 17, 2007 7:05 PM
> Subject: Re: [CARROLL-DNA] Off Topic - A gift to your Carroll
> Ancestor
>
>
> | Dear Folks,
> | That's a neat idea, but, knowing me, I never was very good at
> following
> | instructions. I will, however, share one of my father's
> Christmas stories.
> |
> | My earliest known was Jesse, Sr. and then, further down the
> line came my
> | grandfather Amma Bass Carroll. My father, Festus Royal, was
> the youngest of
> | the extensive brood, 13, if I remember correctly, and he was
> born in a hole
> | in the ground up in Indian Territory, about 35 miles SW of
> where Enid,
> | Oklahoma, is today. The "hole in the ground" that Daddy always
> referred to
> | was what they called a "soddy". You dug square blocks of the
> prairie sod and
> | set it aside to dry. Then you dug the rest of the house. When
> the sod
> | blocks were dry, you stacked them like bricks around the top of
> the hole to
> | make part of the wall. On top of that you laid out any poles
> you could find
> | in that barren landscape and then, on top of that, stretched a
> wagon sheet.
> | More sod went on top of the poles and wagon sheet to form the
> roof.
> |
> | Well, despite the fact that some of the older children had
> already left
> | home, the hole in the ground was getting pretty crowded, so
> Grandpa decided
> | early in the Fall to expand the house by digging another
> adjacent hole. Fall
> | is a busy time for a dirt farmer and, what with one thing and
> another, the
> | hole got dug but the walls hadn't been stacked as Christmas
> approached.
> | Even so, about a half dozen of the kids were sleeping in the
> new annex,
> | which was only about four feet deep, and the wagon sheet was
> stretched over
> | the poles at ground level and pegged down at the corners.
> |
> | We've been having some rather strange weather most everywhere
> lately and, as
> | I understand it, Oklahoma has always had strange weather. A
> Blue Norther
> | rolled in, complete with thunder and lightening and freezing
> rain. One
> | lightening bolt apparently struck pretty close because the old
> brood sow and
> | her swarm of half-grown progeny broke out of their pen and ran
> right into
> | the half-flooded wagon sheet. Down came the wagon sheet, the
> poles, the
> | pigs and the freezing rain on top of the kids in what became a
> tangled mass
> | of frightened pigs, frightened kids, torn wagon sheet, broken
> poles and
> | about a foot of freezing slush. Luckily, no one was badly
> hurt, although
> | Addie and Bonnie got stomped on pretty heavily. The only way
> to untangle
> | the mess was to run the pigs through the rest of the house and
> out of the
> | front door and then count noses to make sure all of the kids
> were out from
> | under the wreckage. As far as Daddy was concerned (he was
> about five at the
> | time), it was his first memorable Christmas and he loved to
> trot out the
> | story every time someone began talking about reindeer on the
> roof.
> |
> | Merry Christmas to All!
> | Jeff Carroll
> | Bryan, Texas
>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
> | ----- Original Message -----
> | From: "Emmy and Frank Edwards" <frankedwards(a)frontiernet.net>
> | To: <carroll-dna(a)rootsweb.com>
> | Sent: Monday, December 17, 2007 3:48 PM
> | Subject: Re: [CARROLL-DNA] Off Topic - A gift to your Carroll
> Ancestor
> |
> | > Lura, a neat idea. Frank
>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
> | > ----- Original Message -----
> | > From: "Lura" <luraj(a)triad.rr.com>
> | > To: <CARROLL-DNA(a)rootsweb.com>
> | > Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2007 10:36 PM
> | > Subject: [CARROLL-DNA] Off Topic - A gift to your Carroll
> Ancestor
>
> Right now most of you are wrapping gifts, putting together the
> things that must be assembled in less than a week, or cooking
> fruit cake. You don't have much time for genealogy! However, if
> you are like me, thoughts of those by-gone relatives drift
> through your mind occasionally while you are preparing for
> "family times" with your current family. You wonder just how they
> celebrated Christmas.
> I have a suggestion for you to think about and share with us if
> you wish and you have the time! Think of your earliest known
> CARROLL ancestor (or one of the earliest) and then decide on a
> gift you would like to give him or a member of his family.
>
> Right now, my earliest ancestor is Dempsey Carrol/Carrell (?)
>
> Senior. I see him the first time in 1752 living in Halifax
> County, NC before his move to Duplin, which became Sampson
> County, NC.
>
> I would like to give Dempsey, Sr. a family BIBLE - one with lots
> of pages for recording births, marriages, and deaths. I would
> also give him a pen and an ink well. I know that he could write
> at least a little, because he signed his name on his son
> Alexander's marriage bond on April 7, 1783. He also may have
> taught his son how to write, because Alexander apparently wrote
> his own will in 1827.
>
> I read one interesting story about a young couple (not my family)
>
> in those very early days preparing to move on their covered wagon
> to land newly opened for settlement. The young wife was to give
> birth soon to their first child. She became very angry at her
> husband, because he had spent the almost last 50 cents they had.
>
> They had many needs, but he had spent the money on a BIBLE. He
> said when his son was born, he deserved to have his name written
> down. I wish more of my ancestors had felt that way.
>
> Merry Christmas to all,
>
> Lura
>
>
>
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