Notes on the Sparks/Thomas side

My grandmother, Bertha Thomas Spraggins, talked often about her grandmother. It was in the home of her Grandmother Sparks where she formed her fondest childhood memories. She was only around eight or nine years old when her grandmother died in 1914, but Amanda Irene/Arena Sparks had earned a cherished chamber in her young heart. Bertha's parents were separated at that time, and soon to be divorced, and she and her brothers spent a great deal of time with their Sparks grandparents, as their mother Mellie Sparks Thomas tried to put her life back together. Mellie was in the middle of a hostile divorce, and so Bertha and her brothers were never to know their Thomas relatives. We have no photographs of our Thomas kin, and precious few names to insert in the family tree.

Found in the family archives and recently "restored," the old tintype above may be William and Amanda Sparks, about 1900. Few people owned cars then, but many found it a thrill to just pose for a photograph while sitting in one. They were my Grandmother Spraggin's grandparents, and according to her, she did not see her first "horseless carriage" (automobile) until she was in grade school... probably around 1910.................................. Bertha distinctly remembered her little grandmother, whom she described as short and petite, with long black hair usually braided into a long pigtail which trailed down her back. Born in Alabama, she was energetic and affectionate, and made a comfortable, loving atmosphere for Bertha and her brothers, something that Bertha was not to experience again for a long time to come. It was grandma Sparks who taught her to sew and to crochet. She fondly described “Rena's” tiny form laboring over a big, beautiful wood-burning stove, where she baked all kinds of good things for her children and grandchildren to eat. The Sparks lived in the country at that time, farming in southern Arkansas in Cleveland County. Cleveland County is just north of Bradley County, where so many of our Spraggins kinfolks live until this day. Bertha remembered her feisty grandmother chopping firewood, chasing down chickens, and boiling clothes in an iron cauldron; Ironing their clothes with a “flat iron,” on a wooden ironing board; Cleaning sooty glass chimneys which were the equivalent of light bulbs, but powered by kerosene which burned on a cloth wick, and always needed a cleaning. She remembered that Amanda was always busy, either cooking or sewing or cleaning house. Bertha teased that she was always envious of her grandmother's lustrous black hair, which gave her the appearance of an Indian squaw. She loved to comb and braid it if Amanda would let her. Bertha was too young to appreciate what her grandmother would come to mean to her, when she was suddenly taken by death while in her sixties.

Mel or “Mellie” Thomas Parritt (above, with youngest daughter Travis Jean) was Bertha's mother and one of the Sparks's younger children who possessed a fiery personality which complicated the family considerably. After a few years of marriage to Jeff Thomas, she found herself abandoned with no home, no income and three small children. She had kept her children with the Sparks until she could find a home for them... and this meant finding a new husband who could provide for them. But Mellie was not having much luck finding anyone who wanted to take on the responsibilty of supporting three small children, while satisfying her stormy temperament. Jeff Thomas was never heard from again... but thanks to my cousin Richard Cushman, we know that he lived in Gregg County, Texas and died in Longview in 1952. This may be his likeness below. As for his growing family, things went from bad to worse.

Bertha's mother was overwhelmed with the loss of her indulgent, long suffering mother and her footloose husband in such close succession, and soon after Amanda's death she took Bertha to live with the Carraway family, to basically “earn her keep.” In those times, when rural families often struggled to feed themselves, sometimes children were “farmed out,” or loaned to farm families who needed help. That began around six years of daily chores on a farm with no immediate family around. From then on, Bertha only saw her mother or brothers on major holidays, like Thanksgiving or Christmas.

She attended very little school, but always assured that she had been treated well, and mostly helped Mrs. Carraway (seen above with her many sons) with household chores in the kitchen, helping to feed Mrs. Carraway's large tribe of hungry farmers. Twice a day she milked the cow, fed the chickens, gathered stove wood, and every morning she made the beds, and helped with the washing of filthy farm worker's clothes. She did have some school work, but more valued that Mrs. Carraway taught her how to cook, how to keep house, and how to survive off of the land. She became a second mother to Bertha, who always spoke kindly of her. The Carraways were Bible-believing, hard working people with a daily challenge to make a living off of the farm, in all kinds of weather. They grew almost everything that they ate. The whole family worked at raising crops and livestock and then harvesting in the fall, and butchering hogs and making hams and bacon and soap. Bertha learned to pick cotton, to “pull” and grind corn, to shell peas and how to chop the head off of a copperhead with a hoe. And how to defend herself. But most importantly she grew up safe and well fed. Mrs. Carraway was overwhelmed with her duties and was not always able to keep her mischievous boys in check. Sometimes they would pick on Bertha, and stick her in the smokehouse and lock her inside, and leave her there among the hanging meat and barrels of grain and feed sacks and all kinds of bugs and vermin...for hours. But it was probably just their way of flirting. One of them, Cecil Carraway was becoming quite fond of Bertha and there was talk of making a match... but Bertha's mother heard about it and came to get her before the relationship could gel. All she said was “I came to get my daughter!” and took her away. The Carraways, who had begun to think of Bertha as family, stood in shock as they disappeared down the road.

Bertha was about 16, virtually a grown woman in those days, when she went to Warren to live with her mother again. Her brothers Harvey and Sam had already left the farm for good, but she got to see her younger sister Jean, born from her mother's union with Mr. Parrott. He was also a farmer with even more big, hungry sons and Mellie needed help to meet the needs of the Parrott farm. After years of servitude, Mellie's idea of Bertha's new freedom was providing free labor on the Parrott farm. The next morning she told Bertha to go make up some biscuits for breakfast. Soon sparks were flying. Bertha was still reeling from her sudden relocation, and no doubt showed her indignation. She began to make the biscuit dough the way Mrs. Carraway had trained her, (probably making “drop” biscuits, rather than using a rolling pin and cookie cutter) which was a fast and effective way to make a lot of biscuits for a large group. Mellie watched her a bit and did not see the advantage, and slapped Bertha and told her to do it right. Bertha retorted that she was doing it the way she always had for six years, the way Mrs. Carraway had taught her. This was perceived as “back-talk” and met with immediate punishment. Bertha suspected that if her mother would just watch, she might learn something, but unfortunately that was not what happened. Mellie slapped her insolent daughter again and instructed her to go out in the yard and cut a switch... which would then be applied with anger on her own back, if everything went as planned. Bertha gladly left the kitchen and searched out a suitable switch... thinking that she would call her mother's bluff, but sure she would not actually whip her! She was after all, a full-grown woman now, and fully able to run a household. When she returned to the Parrott kitchen, she “learned different.” A tall and powerful and naturally stern woman, Mellie took the switch as if it were a misplaced and favorite possession, and reared back to strike Bertha full force. That was Bertha's welcome home party... Now realizing that her age and long absence meant nothing to her mother, she caught Mellie's arm just as she came down on her. Bertha was small of stature, but had been milking a cow for years and had extremely strong hands and arms. She surprised her mother with her strength, as she grabbed the whipping switch and furiously broke it into little bits. Shaking what was left of it, she cried and told her mother, she was making biscuits the only way she knew how and … not to EVER touch her again!

If Amanda Sparks had looked like an Indian, her daughter Mellie displayed the savage constitution stereotyped in Native Americans. And as seen in the photo comparison, could have easily passed for a Cherokee woman. DNA tests have not revealed that particular genetic heritage, so Mellie must have come by her caustic ways through hard living. Whenever the family got together in later years, it always indulged in sensational stories of her wrath and unforgiving nature- which seemed humerous after forty years. It was obvious the two could not live under the same roof. The Carraways were afraid to take her back, and risk crossing Mellie, so Bertha went to live with the Moseleys, a bunch of “cousins” who also had a big family and a large farm. There she found the kind of love and acceptance from a warm, good-natured family that she had always dreamed of. She and her mother would stay in contact, but they were never to be close. Her younger sister Jean would always be the referee between the two.

After Bertha married Shelby Spraggins (above, holding my mother), a local farm boy from the Ebeneezer community, they moved to Houston, Texas and away from farm life. This suited both of them for awhile. Shelby ended up in the gasoline business in East Houston... managing a Humble service station and ultimately owning his own station on the “East Side.” They had two beautiful daughters, Lillian Margaret and Shirley Ozelle. The girls prospered in pre-war Houston, attending Milby High School. They were the first High School graduates in their family.

At the end of WWII the Spraggins purchased their own, brand new home on Rainbow Drive, where they shared boundaries with Forest Park Cemetery. Their home was in close proximity to their service station on Lawndale Drive. About that time was when they took in Bertha's nephew, Gary Thomas. Jean, known to the family as Travis, moved in across the street and raised Gary's older sister Regina. Eventually Jean and her husband took on their own service station. Gary and Regina were the older of three children belonging to Sam and Montrey Thomas. Montrey kept custody of her youngest, Bobby, and stayed in Arkansas. Sam wandered as a migrant worker... and Jean Parrott Reese, who had no children, took on the job of parenting Regina. Gary and Regina grew up as neighbors, as well as siblings. At least they had been farmed out to family members, and both were raised in wholesome, caring environments. The story of the two Thomas boys was vague and tragic, and Harvey disappeared and little was heard from him after the 1960's. He did managae to father one son, Danny Thomas, who grew up in Chicago. Brother Sam worked as a produce trucker, but eventually was found murdered in Houston. The dysfunction and unpleasantness instigated by Mellie and Jeff led to several generations of similar tragedy. The abandonment of the family by Jeff Thomas began a pattern, leading to his two sons doing the same with their children, and then those circumstances defining their hopes and ultimate results which were checkered with bad choices and tragic ends- for a third generation. Amazingly, Bertha Thomas Spraggins did not follow the same path, and I think even she would have credited the Carraways and Moseleys with her breaking the mold which shaped the rest of her family. She in turn was able to help her nephew get a good start on life, with stability and positive role-models, and he worked very hard and became a very successful entrepreneur in the industrial painting and coatings business. Gary Thomas reached millionaire status, owning his own airplane and various boats... happily married, and providing his wife and two daughters with a very nice, two-story home in a classy neighborhood. Gary's life, perhaps more than any person in our family, really illustrated the “American Dream.”

Raised by his Aunt Bertha, Gary Thomas, just "Butch" to us kids, overcame a rough beginning to become a very successful Texas entrepreneur.