General Notes

Custom Field:<_FA#> Listed in 1870 Federal Census of  Crenshaw Co., AL.@@S726784@@Date of Import: Jul 31, 2003
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‘Junior’ Is 82 And Youngest
Three Spradley Brothers Visit Sister, 90, Here
By Dick Brown
"Junior" is 82 years old, the youngest of the three Spradley brothers
of Patsburg who were in Montgomery recently to visit their sister, Mrs.
Emma Holladay at 331 Clayton Street.
Mrs. Holladay is a pleasant 90 - and doesn’t mind admitting it.  Webb
is 85 and Sam J. is a fine, jolly 93. Young Gus is still called "Junior."
They haven’t any simple explanation for their long, healthy lives but
they have a feeling that part of it is due to being kin to Daniel Boon.
Their mother and Boone were related, they said, but they forget what the
relationship was.
Remember War Between the States
Both Mrs. Holladay and Sam J. remember the War Between the States.
Mrs. Holladay was three and Sam J. was six when the Yankees invaded their
home near Bradleyton in Crenshaw (then Lowndes) County.
The then three-year old Emma still has only one thing to say about
that period of history.
"Those Yankees were riding the most beautiful horses I ever saw," she
said.
Sam J. is little more tart about those times.  He readily admits, "I
don’t like the Yankees."
All of them then coaxed Sam J. into telling one of the family jokes.
"When Father came home from the war I was picking apples in the
orchard.  Mother saw father coming and called me to run out to meet him……"
Sam paused a few seconds before the punchline.
"I said, ‘Well, wait’ll I get the apples picked up!’ "
Their father was gone three years and they lived "mighty hard" during
that time, Sam J. said.
Long Walk For Father
When their father did come home he walked all the way from Mobile -
except for a three-mile ride on an oxcart - to the house near Bradleyton.
"His beard was way down to his waist, his clothes were torn, and he
was barefoot," Sam said.
"It was a real purty evenin’, though," he added.
The Yankees didn’t harm anyone, Sam and Mrs. Holladay remembered, but
they did "cut chickens’ heads off with their swords" and they raided the
smoke house.
Webb remembers using one of the first cross-cut saws and remembers
the first mules brought in to work.
"Those mules worked fine," he said.
"The boys were all hard workers, too." Mrs. Holladay added.
"Yep," Gus said, "I liked to work all day and dance all night."
Skillful Quilt Maker
Mrs. Holladay’s daughter, Miss Gretchen Holladay, who lives with her
mother here, mentioned Mrs. Holladay’s skill at making quilts.
"Sometimes it would just take her two or three days to make a fine
quilt, besides all her cleaning and cooking and chores…."
Mrs. Holladay said she slowed down some now, and only made three
quilts her 90th year.
She estimated the number of quilts she has made at close to 1,000.
Nowadays Gus prefers a good game of dominoes, Mrs. Holladay and Sam
like gardening, and Webb, when he can’t find an allnight gospel sing,
just likes to "come and go" his family said.
But it was Sam J., with 93 years of history behind him, who was
anxious to get back to Patsburg.
"What’s the big attraction in Patsburg?" he was asked.
"Well," he said, "there’s some pretty widow women there."
Webb, who has been married three times, lives with his wife in
Patsburg.  Sam J. lives with his son, Alton, and Gus lives with his son,
Manford.
Gus has been married twice; Mrs. Holladay and Sam J. once.
After the interview was over Sam J. put on a jaunty gray hat, and,
setting the pace for the younger folks, started off for a long walk in
the warm spring air. (1)
(1) Dick Brown, "’Junior’ is 82 and Youngest; Three Spradley Brothers
Visit Sister, 90, Here," Alabama Journal,  1 May 1952, Thursday,  p.
10-A, col. 1-3.
A picture of the four is with the article.  Below the picture is written:
MEMORIES OF 350 YEARS are registered in this family portrait of the
Spradley brothers from