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| Abe Tucker |
The Williamsons were well-respected members of their community. They didn't go to church often enough to suit the pastor, but whenever a family needed assistance, or whenever something was going on at the church, they got involved. Some of their family members remarked that they had very little to do with the family in general. John and Liz blamed it on the store: It took up too much of their time, they said. So, they weren't as popular with their family as they were in the community. As I understand it, this was and still is the reason why their ancestors don't hold them in high regard.
Unlike the majority of families, the Williamsons did not have a large amount of land. Their home and business(es) sat on four acres. They had no cows and only had four horses for the wagon. They also raised chickens, and they had eight large pigs. They consumed the eggs, allowed others to hatch, and occasionally they would raise a pig to be butchered.
The pig pen was situated behind the house and was not visible from the highway. One day Mr. John was feeding the pigs when he noticed that his heavy-duty fence posts were succumbing to the weather. They were going to have to be replaced.
Thursday evening of that same week, Mr. John didn't have any work scheduled for the next day. He decided that he would purchase the materials he needed to replace his fence posts. That night, during "supper" (that was the country name for dinner), he told Mrs. Liz that he planned to visit Ned Smith's lumberyard in April Fields.
When telling his story, Mr. John always remarked how strange it was that he could remember every item that they ate for supper. They had "pinto beans, cornbread, fried chicken, potatoes, sliced cucumbers, and sliced tomatoes." They also had iced tea, and afterward, coffee. It's almost a sin, John would say, for anyone not to have iced tea with a meal.
At any rate, Mr. John rose before dawn and got the team attached to the wagon. He had an old truck, but he was going to town to purchase some large railroad ties. He thought the wagon was better suited to haul them. He headed out a few minutes before sunrise.
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