In the last issue, most of the family was still in the Haynesville LA area working in oil field or related jobs. But as oil field employment required frequent relocations as oil exploration continued to spread over Louisiana and Arkansas, more moves were soon underway. Eventually some of the family moved into Webster Parish to the small town of Cotton Valley. Cotton Valley is situated approximately equal distance between Springhill and Dixie Inn on US 371, and between Bayous Dorcheat and Bodcau. Originally a farming community, taking its name from the biggest cash crop of the time, it was also home to a sawmill, supporting the timber industry. However once the oil boom hit, farming soon became a part of history as numerous oil wells and petroleum refineries became the “cash crop.” At one time three separate refineries operated at Cotton Valley, but in the period 1970 – 2000, oil field production waned, the sawmill closed, and the town’s population declined (to approximately 1100 in 2002). Sarepta, another small town much like Cotton Valley, is located about three miles north of Cotton Valley and about 12 miles south of Springhill. Sarepta’s economy depended more on agricultural and timber than Cotton Valley’s, plus it also served more as a bedroom community for Springhill with its paper mill operated by the International Paper Company, the largest industrial employer in Webster Parish for years.

First to move to Cotton Valley was Elmer and May Ward, transferring from nearby Haynesville. Mary Lou Belle and Bessie moved with them, while Ada swapped back and forth between Ruth and Olon Manning’s home in Haynesville and May and Elmer’s (but mostly at May and Elmer’s). Jessie stayed with Ruth’s until she graduated from Haynesville High School in 1929, then moved to Cotton Valley with Mary Lou Belle, Ada and Bessie.

Elmer and May lived in several different locations in the Cotton Valley area, the last one being what they called the railroad crossing, just down from Ohio Oil loading rack on Minden highway. Mary Lou Belle sold Watkins products for a short time while living there with May and Elmer.

Next Elmer transferred to Sarepta, but Mary Lou Belle, Bessie, Ada and Jessie continued living at the railroad crossing where they took in washing and ironing. Mary Lou Belle also peddled dress material on foot. She seemed to do quite well in this enterprise as she had enough fabric to make herself and her 3 girls clothes. As mentioned before, she could cut a pattern for a dress after seeing a dress that she liked.

Jessie left Cotton Valley and went to stay with Ruth and Olon Manning again in order to take a short business course of about a year, which she completed.

Carl Barker and Ada met while Carl was working in the Cotton Valley Oil Field. Carl was ultimately transferred from Cotton Valley to Price, Texas (near Henderson). He and Ada married shortly thereafter and they made Price their permanent home.

Jessie visited Ada and Carl in Price, and alternated living with May and Elmer, Ruth and Olon, and Bessie and Dallas, before finally “settling” with Bessie and Dallas in Cotton Valley. She got a job at the Ben Franklin store where she met Meredith Hilburn, whom she married in 1940. Meredith was a watch repairman, but when WWII broke out, instead of enlisting in the service he and Jessie moved to San Antonio TX, where Meredith worked in the war effort repairing gyroscopes for the bombers at the Kelly Field Air Depot.

In 1947 after the war ended, the depot work force was reduced so Meredith and Jessie moved back to Cotton Valley where they partnered with Bessie and Dallas in the Economy Variety Store. However, the store’s business would not support two families so Dallas got employment at the Ohio Oil Company’s refinery (later named Cotton Valley Operators Committee - CVOC).

Jessie and Meredith bought a home outside of Cotton Valley, from his grandparents where they have lived ever since. Meredith continued working at the store with a short stint at an ammunition plane near Minden during the Korean War, until retiring. I guess you could say he never really quite retired as he continued to operate the farm and garden with Jessie’s help. Bessie and Dallas ultimately moved to Sarepta, making it their permanent home, where Bessie raised chickens commercially, and she and Dallas farmed and gardened. Dallas stayed on with CVOC until retirement.

Some memories that stand out for Jessie include one day while visiting May and Elmer at their first home in Cotton Valley, she decided to kill wasps under the eve of their house. Her “weapon” was a wash pan with kerosene in it. Unbeknownst to her though, Junior (Phil Ward) had walked up behind her, and just as she dashed the kerosene up under the eve, lowered the pan to get ready to run, she realized the pan had hit him on the head which knocked him down and resulted in his being surrounded by angry wasps. Jessie had to face the wasps to rescue Junior, but made a safe getaway. Another is the loss of her mother. May and Elmer had relocated to Springhill by 1931, taking Mary Lou Belle with them. Mary Lou Belle had gone to visit Fred and Clara at Norphlet AR, and as Fred and Clara were bringing her home the steering column of the car broke causing them to wreck. Mary Lou Belle suffered a broken arm and broken nose which were treated right after the wreck. About three months later though, she had a cerebral hemorrhage and died in May and Elmer’s home. Fred struggled with guilt after his precious mother passed away, feeling that he was responsible for her death since was driving when the accident occurred.

By: Linda & Jessie Hilburn

We must have moved from Haynesville to Cotton Valley when I was about five. I started to school at age six after the move. My Dad, Elmer Ward, had worked in the production department for Mobil Oil (Magnolia Oil Co. at the time) for several years. The company transferred him to this new location, as help was needed in a new field. This was the beginning of the break-up of the Cain sisters. Until this time every one had lived near each other.

No one else in the family was transferred here except my Dad. However, we were not in Cotton Valley alone. Grandma (Mom’s mother – Mary Lou Belle Cain) and her three youngest daughter’s, Bessie, Jessie and Ada, were with us part-time. We went back to Haynesville to visit about once a week. Mom loaded us in our Model A Ford and away we went. Finally, all the brother-in-laws were transferred to other places, except Uncle Olon. He spent most of his working career in Haynesville. He was transferred to South Louisiana for a short time before retirement.

My Dad continued to work in Cotton Valley for many years. While living here a neighbor, Mrs. Palmer, invited Mom to attend ladies’ prayer meeting with her on Wednesday afternoon. Mom received the Holy Ghost and was baptized in Jesus name. Prior to that time we rarely attended church – occasionally we did go to the Baptist Church. But, after Mom’s wonderful experience, we became regular church members. My Dad resisted somewhat at first; but before long, he also received the Holy Ghost and became a very enthusiastic member. Also, Mom was a very excited witness of her experience and led many of her family members to the Lord. She went into the woods every afternoon for about an hour for her own personal devotion and prayer meeting.

I mentioned earlier I began school in Cotton Valley. I also graduated from Cotton Valley High School in 1938. I was sixteen at the time, but had my seventeenth birthday within a few days. At that time there were only eleven grades.

We were living here during the largest part of the depression years. My Dad had one of the better jobs offered in this area – being employed in the oil field. Even so, there were no luxuries. In fact, we were thankful to have the bare necessities of life. All my schoolmates and their families were enduring tough times. Some of them possibly did not even have adequate food. I wore a lot of hand-me-down clothes. Some of my mother and Dad’s family members also lived in our home during this time. There were no jobs to be had. Most of the time my Dad would be the only one working. I know you won’t believe this - but these were happy times - we enjoyed each other. There was no fussing or fighting. The houses we lived in were never large. How we all made it, I sometimes wonder. We always had three hot meals a day. Mom made hot biscuits for breakfast and hot cornbread for dinner and supper. I have told my children and grandchildren we had potatoes and beans today - tomorrow we had beans and potatoes.

Pop (my Dad) always had a garden - a large garden that he worked in after getting off from his regular job. So we had fresh vegetables during that time. Mom canned everything she could – vegetables, fruits, jams and jellies. Also, Pop always raised a pig and a calf to kill in the fall and we would have fresh meat. We always kept a cow which Mom milked. This gave us fresh milk and butter. Sometimes when Pop came to the table and saw all the good food, he would smile and say; “I wonder how the rich folks up town are eating?” We were never hungry but there was a need for more clothing. I went to school with holes in the bottom of my shoes and holes in the heels of my socks a lot of the time.

My Aunt Jessie (whom I call “Big Jess”) could nearly always find a job in one of the stores. But other than that, my Dad was the only one working. There were many “soup lines” where people without food could go to eat.

I know everyone has heard about the Ward’s living at the railroad crossing. This was nearer Pop’s work out in the country. The highway from Minden crossed the track in front of our house. Across the track and the highway in front of us, an oil well was being drilled. One day the well “blew out”. There was a huge explosion and flames leaped high into the sky. The fire burned for hours before it could be extinguished. People came from everywhere to watch it burn. We had a front row seat and never left our house.

We were still living in Cotton Valley when World War II began. I remember hearing it on the radio - there was a heaviness settled on everyone – a lot of sadness. Our pastor, Brother Yocum, had a son, Clarence, on one of the ships that was bombed. He was a little younger than I was and he was killed. In the meantime, jobs were a little easier to get. By this time, my mother’s sister, Bessie, married my Dad’s brother, Dallas. Dallas had obtained work as a lineman and electrician at the local utility company in Cotton Valley. His pay was very minimum. He heard of high paying jobs for electricians in the ship building industry in Beaumont, Texas. He decided to find out and went to work immediately. His pay in one week was more than an entire month’s pay on his previous job. Bessie did not want to be in Beaumont without other family members – we had been too close for too many years - so my sister, my brother or I, would alternate being in Beaumont with her.

I went to work for the telephone company, March 1, 1942, in Beaumont. (I stayed until my retirement, August 1, 1982). My Mom got my Dad to transfer to the refinery in Beaumont. So, gradually we all left Cotton Valley. However, two of my Mom’s sisters, Bessie and Jessie and their families moved back to Cotton Valley after the war was over. They made Cotton Valley their place of retirement.

Melba (Ward) Dupree—Niece

I was born in Claiborne Parish near Oil Center – just outside Haynesville, LA. We lived there until I was about 3 years old so I have few memories of living there.

I don’t know if what I tell is my memories or if it will be what I was told. I was bad about running off to the neighbors, so one day Mom decided to stop it. Our house was higher in the back than the front. Mom put a rope around my waist and tied it to one of the piers at the back of the house. I was so upset that I started crying and didn’t try to get loose. Then she and my sister went to the front and looked under the house and laughed at me. (She did come back and untie me.)

I guess shortly after that incident my Dad was transferred to Cotton Valley. The first house I can remember living in there was in town. There was a large tree in the front yard that we would climb and play in. I don’t remember how long we lived there but it must have been a year or two. Then we moved out of town to a house at the railroad crossing. The railroad was right in front of our house and we enjoyed playing on it. I was not in school yet and one day Phil and one of the neighbor girls and I were playing on the track and evidently were so involved that we didn’t hear a train coming. A lady had stopped for the train and jumped out of her car and got us off the track and took us to the house. Needless to say we were in trouble. Mom whipped Phil and me and then made us go to bed without any supper. I’m not sure that we played on the track any more. I started to school while we were there and went for one year.

My Dad was then transferred to Sarepta, and we lived out in the country for another year. Then he was transferred closer to Springhill. I went to school one-half year in Springhill and then he was transferred back to Cotton Valley. We moved about 3 times after we were back in Cotton Valley and ended up in the Magnolia Oil Camp not far out of town. He was not transferred any more for several years. He was sent to Rodessa and they lived there until January, 1943. My sister and I were working in Beaumont, TX then so he requested a transfer to the Magnolia refinery in Beaumont where he worked until he retired in July, 1960.

My Dad was blessed to have work even through the depression, even though so many people I knew were without jobs. God is good – all the time.

By: Margaret Ward—Niece