Charlie William PipesPicture of Charlie (baby) and his older brother, Thomas.
Charlie William Pipes was born on July 19, 1901 in Johnson County, Texas to Buford Elbert Pipes (age 26) and Eda Jane McFerrin (age 27). He was the second oldest of seven children, all whom were boys. As a child he attended a rural school house in Salem, located on CR 205 near Grandview, Texas. One autumn he stayed home from school to pick cotton on the farm, and afterward he never returned to school. He had finished his schooling around 5th grade.
He learned about farming from his father, Buford, and together they worked as tenant farmers on the Mayfield farm. Charlie was a self-employed farmer with his primary crop being cotton.Picture of Charlie, about 18 years of age
At the age of 36, he married Mattie Beth Stiles (age 24) on July 24, 1937 at the home of Mattie Beth's parents, Jiles and Una Stiles. After a honeymoon in Waco, they moved in with Charlie's parents on the Mayfield farm in the Salem Community (2 miles northeast of Grandview, Texas). Buford's parents and brothers moved out because the landlord ended their lease, yet continued to allow Charlie and his family to work and live on the farm. They lived there until 1943.
On October 24, 1940 Charlie (age 39) and Mattie Beth (age 27) gave birth to their only child, William Kenneth Pipes, who was born at the Mayfield Farm.
When he was 40 (in 1941), he bought the "Kuykendahl" farm, or the "Auburn house", as an investment. There used to be a cotton gin in front of the Kuykendall house, but was gone before Charlie acquired the property. Charlie allowed his brother and sister-in-law, Winston and Betty Pipes, to live in the house for a time. Then his parents, Buford and Eda Jane, moved into the house around 1944, since they were asked to leave the Mayfield farm.
picture of the Pipes (or "Great's" house)
At the age of 42 (in 1943) he bought a house and farmstead at 12700 FM 916 near Grandview, Texas.
picture of cow trailer
Kenneth, his son, remembers when Charlie had bought a custom-made cow trailer in Ft. Worth, which he used to take to the Stockyards to sell his cattle. He could fit two cows and a calf into the trailer that was made of oak wood. He also used this to haul cotton, or to take a group of friends and family fishing.
There was also a small shack out behind their house where he would board hired negro familes who picked cotton in the fields.
picture of Charlie
Charlie was known as "Grandaddy" by his three grandchildren, and he never met his nine great-grandchildren.
On October 16, 1979, Charlie passed away in Johnson County, Texas. He was buried at the Grandview Cemetery in Grandview, Texas.
picture of gravestone
How we are related:
(1) Charlie William Pipes & Mattie Beth Stiles
(2) --- William Kenneth Pipes & Jerry Ann Priest
(3) ------A. Pipes & G. Tatum
(4) ---------L. Ducommun & M. Ducommun
No comments:
Post a Comment