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CAIN |
Introduction to the Cain Family
Ground rules:
- This newsletter will generally refer to family by their name without their title to avoid confusion. No disrespect is intended.
- Jessie Cain Hilburn, the daughter of James Allen Cain and Mary Lou Belle Garner Cain, is the primary source of information about the family. She will be referred to a Jessie for simplicity.
The Cain family needs to be briefly defined for better understanding of our lineage. We’ll start with the James Allen and Mary Lou Belle Cain and their offspring since little is known about their parents. In the future we hope to be able to publish a family tree graphic which should aid everyone’s understanding. If anyone has a graphic they would like to contribute to the newsletter please do so. Also a more in-depth look at the family life and times will be provided in future editions to help keep this first edition a reasonable length.
The family patriarch and matriarch are James Allen and Mary Lou Belle Garner Cain. There is some uncertainty of the way James Allen’s middle given name was spelled — “Allen” or “Alan.” For example, on the back of the photo at right, the photo’s description was annotated “James Alan”. Other family sources indicate the proper name to be James Allen, so until proved differently we will continue with the latter spelling. Regardless of the spelling, he apparently went by or was known as Allen Cain as Mary Walker referred to him as Uncle Allen, so we will also make further references as Allen Cain.
Allen was born approximately July 18, 1857 in Georgia. His mother was of German heritage; his father was probably of mixed Scotch-Irish descent.
Mary Lou Belle Garner was born to George and Martha Hamilton Garner September 23 1868 in Arkansas. Little is known about the Garner lineage except that Martha Hamilton had some Indian blood, perhaps one-half or one-fourth. Jessie likes to think that it was Cherokee since there were Cherokees in that vicinity. George Garner had blue eyes and light hair; Martha had a dark olive complexion and dark hair and eyes.
How did Allen and Mary Lou Belle meet? Allen Cain left his home in Georgia when he was 17 years old to make his way in the world. Jessie believes that he worked as a farm hand for different farmers and ultimately arrived in Arkansas where he commenced working for the Garner family. Here he fell in love with Mr. Garner’s daughter, Mary Lou Belle, and asked for her hand in matrimony. However, she was not yet ready for marriage and turned him down. Having been spurned, Allen announced he was going to move on, perhaps go back home to Georgia, and Mary Lou Belle changed her mind about marriage to keep him from leaving. So they married in approximately 1885 when she was approximately 17 years old and Allen approximately 28 years old.
The Immediate Family
Allen and Mary Lou soon started a family. Farming families of that time and social strata normally had a large number of children, so that the children could help with the chores. No exception here, ultimately having 12 children, 10 lived to be adults. The order of birth and names of the children follows:
| Fred Lee (married Clara Weatherton) |
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| Minnie Belle (married Bird Lasiter) | |
| Etta Lou (married Henry Edgmon) | |
| Willie Monroe (married Leona Dave Himar) | |
| George Kimball (died age 17-19, unmarried) | |
| Anne (died while an infant) | |
| Rosie May Rebecca (married Elmer Ward) | |
| Ruth Myrtle (married Olon Manning) | |
| Hardie Allen (died while an infant) | |
| Ada Ester (married Carl Barker) | |
| Jessie Gertrude (married Meredith Hilburn) | |
| Bessie Adeline (married Dallas Longstreath) | |
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Back row: Willie, Minnie, Fred Middle row: Allen, Mary Lou Belle, Etta Front Row: Georgia, May |
Life and Times on the Farm
share·crop·per (shârkrpr)
n.
A tenant farmer who gives a share of the crops raised to the landlord in lieu of rent.
The family owned no land until after Allen’s death as far as Jessie can remember. This means that Allen most likely sharecropped to support his family, farming in several locations on and near the Arkansas River in Blaine County Arkansas. They mainly raised corn and cotton. Among the places they lived and farmed are: Patterson Bluff, close to Scranton; Ragan Hill, close to Scranton on the other side of the cemetery from the river bottom; Blaine (not along the river); close to Scranton; and Spadra Bottom.
As motorized farm equipment was not in use until the 1930s, farming in those days was mostly accomplished through hard manual labor, augmented by teams of horses or mules. The farming day started before sunrise and ended after sunset. Mary Lou Belle would fix breakfast while James Allen went to feed the horses, mules, etc. Breakfast was served and then he went to the field to work the crops. Mary Lou Belle milked the cows, went to the garden, and cooked dinner. After eating dinner, Allen would take a nap, then he and Mary Lou Belle would both go to the field and continue to work the crops. Of course, Mary Lou had to milk the cows when she got back and cook supper or prepare left-overs.. Then after supper, it was more chores until bed time.
They raised chickens, and raised hogs for meat. The men had to keep the wood supplied for the household not only for fire place but for wood stove, keep the fences and prepare the fields, gather crops, etc. It was daylight until dark, 6 days a week . Sundays was the only day off and then they had to take care of animals and family on Sundays.
Work was hard, but life was simple. They still had time to help their neighbors.
And though times were hard, Jessie remembers that Allen was a good provider. For example he bought a car, and paid cash for it, probably a Chevrolet touring car. Side note: Mary Lou Belle when learning to drive the car, hit a stump that kept her from going into a ditch. She never tried to learn to drive again. Ruth was mostly the driver of the car.
Other Chores
Mary Lou Belle made all of the clothes for the girls. The dresses were sewn out of fabric and their underwear was “fashioned” from flour sacks. The men wore overalls, probably store-bought. Mary Lou Belle knitted socks, she worked in the house in the morning, cooking, cleaning, etc., and went to the fields to work the crops with the men in the afternoons.
Mary Lou Belle was a very talented lady. She could make a pattern for a dress just by looking at the dress. (Her daughter, Ruth, could also do this.) Mary Lou Belle also painted on fabric. As was the custom of the times, the family also butchered their own pork and prepared it for long term safe keeping by salt curing and smoking. Vegetables from the garden were also canned for consumption later on, especially during the winter months when fresh vegetables would be unavailable. The children had to fit schooling, homework and courting into their routines.
And of course the family were very religious and so church was a priority.
A Trip to Georgia!
After several years in Arkansas, Allen decided to take his family back to Georgia by train to meet his parents . May was a baby at that time. (See photo on page 2). Their trunk containing all their clothes did not arrive when they did, and Minnie went to Grandma Cain to borrow a rub board to wash their clothes. (Now remember Grandma Cain was of German heritage when you read the rest of this section.) Grandma cursed when Minnie asked for the rub board and, and said that “she would not have one of those in her house”.
Trying to be a good house guest, Mary Lou Belle washed the dishes after a meal. After she had finished the job, Grandma Cain (her newly met mother-in-law) threw the dish water out and re-washed the dishes.
Allen, not wanting to subject his family to that type behavior, never took his family back to visit his parents again.
Leaving Arkansas for Louisiana
The family did eventually fall on harder times after Allen passed away from inflammation of the bile ducts caused by gallstones, September 17, 1918. He had left Mary Lou Belle a small insurance policy which was sufficient to purchase some property. But by that time the older children had married and moved away from home, leaving only Mary Lou Belle, Ada, Jessie and Bessie at home.
Trying to farm, raise and educate the children eventually proved to be too much and after approximately one-year they were eventually forced to sell their property and move to Louisiana to be near their relatives who were by that time working in the “oil Patch”. They moved to Pine Island, Louisiana (near Oil City which is north of Shreveport), initially because Fred ’s family, Olon and Ruth Manning, and Elmer and May Ward were all living there at that time.
But more about those days in a future newsletter!
Patterson’s Bluff and Jessie’s
VignettesWe’ll try to present information in this section about where the family lived and Jessie’s memories about living there.
Patterson’s Bluff high,
steep bank overlooking the Arkansas river near Scranton. The house was situated
very near the bluff (which according to Jessie’s recollection is at least 100’
high), and the back yard had no protective fencing. If one fell off the bluff,
it was pretty much straight down to the then river bed; now days the river has
been dammed and is more like a lake. But back to the story! Jessie remembers on
one occasion that Allen was working in the back yard with a team of horses when
they almost went over the bluff. The horses were just about to back off the
cliff into the river when at the last instant they responded to Allen’s “Get up”
which kept them from over. (See photo) this house was built on same foundation
that the Cain house was on. Notice that one gets the feeling of empty space
behind the house—the house was very close to the cliff. No doubt it would have
been a devastating blow to a farmer to a team like that, so it was an exciting
time for the Cain’s.
(See photo two.) The cistern
shown in the front of the house was an underground reservoir for storing
rainwater; it was the
source of their drinking water. In those days indoor plumbing was a luxury most
houses did not have. Running water was “running to the cistern with a water
bucket and running back inside” with the water which was then used for cooking,
etc.
(See photo three.) The cellar
was used for storing garden vegetables and fruits canned for later use. It also
acted a temporary internment for punishment of misbehaving children. On one
occasion, Jessie remembers that Ada and Ruth were put into the cellar as
punishment. May 
helped
Ruth “escape” by lifting her up and out of the cellar before her time had
elapsed. Once discovered, May was then summarily put into the cellar herself! (Georgie
possibly died at Patterson Bluff with swamp fever.)
In addition to farming, Allen Cain also ran a ferry across the Arkansas River here.
Jessie’s first cousin, Mary Carper Walker (Laura’s daughter), told of a time when all of her family were sick. During their illness, Allen Cain caught a 40 lb catfish out of the Arkansas river; Mary Lou Belle cooked it and brought it to their family. Mary Walker said that was the best meal ever after they had been so sick! Mary also remembers picking cotton for Allen. Linda Hilburn provided a portion of this section and said “It was neat to hear Mary talk about my grandparents since I never knew them”.
Ask Jessie
This section will answer questions submitted by the family. Jackie (Sissy) Manning Williamson asked Jessie to provide a family history of the Holy Ghost, and Mary Lou Manning Belcher asked about cemeteries where family are buried and where Olon Manning’s parents are buried.
When Allen Cain lived at Blaine, there was a brush arbor revival nearby . He did not want his daughters to go to the revival. However, he went and received the Holy Ghost. May said that they had make shift benches out of boards on wooden blocks. He was so happy when he received the Holy Ghost that he jumped the bench. Then he wanted his family to go to the revival. They went by wagon.
Allen had Sunday School in his home when they lived in an area where there was no church nearby according to May.
Minnie possibly received the Holy Ghost when she was a girl , before she married, as she told May that she had spoken in a language that she did not understand.
May received the Holy Ghost next, around 1923 or 1924, after Phil was born, but before James was born. She was a strong witness for the Lord.
Ruth got the Holy Ghost in Haynesville. Jessie attended the revival and prayed, but did not get the Holy Ghost there. She received it when she was visiting May in Cotton Valley between her junior and senior year in high school. There was revival going and
She received it there in Cotton Valley when May lived at the railroad crossing.
Mary Lou Belle had kidney stones. She was living with May at the railroad crossing in C.V. The church people came and prayed for her. She dropped off to sleep after they prayed for her and when she woke up, she was speaking in tongues. The Lord healed her of kidney stones. She never had any more from that time on.
Ada called Jessie one day (Jessie was living where she presently does) and told her that she had been praying at home and really got a good blessing from the Lord. She was feeling the joy of the Lord and was so happy.
Family Cemeteries:
The Cain family are buried at the Tokalon Chapel, formerly called Ware’s Chapel. It is located near Scranton. “Whenever we go for decoration day we go to Paris and travel East on Hwy 22 until we got to Subiaco. Then we turn on 197 North and went to Scranton. Going through Scranton, one headed toward Dublin and turned left at Dublin. From there, it was approximately 1 mile to the cemetery. You turned right and went up a small incline to the cemetery. The Cain plot is toward the back of the cemetery.”
Unfortunately, Jessie does not know where Olon Manning’s parents are buried. Does anyone else in the family have this information? Thanks for your input.