Spreading Wing details...and Questions?

     I will be in Little Rock attempting to herd the grandboys around all this week. I will put up the        next post Sunday. Wish me luck!

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COVER PHOTO – The John Wesley Gillums, around 1910, at the first Gillum home in Wing. My Grandpa's family. 

A PHOTO VERY RICH IN MY FAMILY'S HISTORY...

Front row, left to right:

Dr. Arthur Gillum - Graduated in the second class, University of Arkansas School of Medicine. Became one of the leading traveling country doctors of his time. Made house calls on horseback for many years. Delivered me, misspelled my name. Buried alone, but with two names on his tombstone. Why?

Lula Bell Gillum McCall - A talented pianist, lived out most of her life alone in her house in the woods. Became a difficult adult, settled her decades old feud with my dad in his last moments. Loved by the children around her. Never had electricity or other modern conveniences.

Usually had 20 or so cats surrounding her at milking time. Why?

Franz M.Gillum - A school teacher, administrator, CCC camp director, poet, cattleman, my regular fishing companion, and more. I consider him to be a great poet whose work was never published, remains lost to the world. Feared his brother. Why?

John R.Gillum - A farmer, veteran of WWI, raised registered Polled Hereford bulls. My dad. I only knew him as an old man, fifty two when I was born. A very hard working old man. After the Great Depression, He lived out his life preparing for the next one, and we lived accordingly. His brother was his best friend most of his life. Yet a single event changed all that. What was that event?

Back row: Martha Jane Tucker Gillum – Endured many hardships as a young girl. A man attempting to attack her in her room one night was lynched within the hour. As a teen, was hidden in a mountain cave for up to two years during a small war. Ran the Gillum Clan with an iron hand after Grandpa's death. My Grandmother. Nobody messed with my Grandma...why? I never met her, yet I harbor hard feelings...why?

John Wesley Gillum – A farmer, saw mill owner, breeder of larger, stronger work mules, traveling stock trader. Once cleared one hundred acres with an ax. My Grandfather. His business partner placed on his tombstone, “An honest man is the noblest work of God.”

Hallie Gillum – A Peabody College educated teacher. Was once in love, her father intervened, and she never married. Ordered her house from Sears, Roebuck, and Co. Once it was finished, the rest of the family made the twenty foot move in with her. Why?  Was dearly loved by her students and people around her. Yet I have hard feelings in my heart that just won't go away.....Though I never met her.

Homer Gillum – A farmer, cattleman. Kept his large family alive during The Great Depression from a large garden. Often drove his mule and wagon to Plainview, ten miles away, for a sack of sugar and a sack of flour. I feared him as a child. He had a fierce look. After his wife died, he almost never left his farm for many years. Suddenly, he began hitting the bright lights of Danville every Saturday night. Why?

Maude Gillum Carter – Missing in photo. A very nice lady with a very large family. Husband Lee once swam his horse across the Mississippi River. He also hunted squirrels during snows with an ax. How?

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SPREADING WING  is now available on amazon.com, and Amazon in Europe. It will be out in Kindle form soon. In Arkadelphia, signed copies are available at Covenant Book Store.