Erlene Mae (Jameson) Bingham (1920 - 1998)

Born 26 Dec 1920 in Bradyville, Cannon, Tennessee, United States

Ancestors

Wife of James Leonard Bingham Sr — married 4 Sep 1948 in LaFayette, Walker, Georgia, United States

Descendants

Died 21 Sep 1998 at age 77 in Nashville, Davidson, Tennessee, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Scott Bingham [send private message]

Erlene (Jameson) Bingham was born in Cannon County.

Biography

MEMORIES OF ERLENE MAE JAMESON BINGHAM - 1920 – 1998

(Random memories, handwritten longhand in pencil, sometime between 1995 and 1998. I am making no effort to “improve” her writing style, just copying everything as it was written. I have added notes in parentheses, just to fill in names and make some minor corrections to her memories. - Transcribed by Scott F. Bingham, October - November 2021)

I was born Dec. 26, 1920 – it was probably at night – to Cleburne Felix & Willie May Inglis Jameson. (My oldest sister) Ruby Gra was 9 yrs & (2nd oldest sister) Angie 7 yrs when I was born, as there were 7 yrs since a new baby. So I was born red-headed, ready to be spoiled. My grandfather William Ballen Inglis was red headed, a kind & gentle man that loved & nourished his family. I also had a bachelor uncle Arthur Belford "Bell" Inglis. So Pappy would go to the country store & bring back a large peppermint candy stick.

The house where I was born was torn down, but I remember it well – a front porch with a large room, with a fireplace, a very narrow & winding staircase, & a large room upstairs with doors to attic space. Behind this large room was another room, then down some steps was a porch on 2 sides of a detached kitchen from the main floor. On one of these porches was had [sic] banisters & a small shelf on which we had flowers in the summer, wash pan, & a water bucket. I remember most was all the little wrens that built their nest on the porches. One night they built a nest in my father’s straw hat – he would not disturb the nest – so I don’t remember if he had an extra hat, but I think that was the beginning of my love for birds.

Daddy had a large herd of cows, which they milked & sold milk – my mother raised chickens & turkeys – they also raised hogs & butchered their meat. My father plowed the land, raising corn & wheat, which they ground for flour & meal. [Small scribbled note in margins] I remember my Dad bringing arrowheads which he would bring. We must not have saved them.

My mother’s parents owned our farm & we lived about 500 yards from their house – our Pappy & Mammy Inglis Nancy Angelina Todd Inglis, & my bachelor uncle. Each Sunday my 2 aunts & their husbands & children attended church first, then Mammy put on this feast with Pappy’s help – Mammy was a good cook. Pappy & Mammy were well off, they had a self-contained farm. (Pappy) just had one brother, he died about 16 yrs of age (Granville Wellington Inglis, actually died at 26) Pappy inherited most of his wealth. Mammy’s father (Asa Todd) was a wealthy man, owning 12,000 acres of land at his death. He held mortgages on land & loaned money, so Pappy & Mammy lived well. Pappy had a large orchard raising apples, & made cider into vinegar; I remember a shed next to the smokehouse with about 6 kegs of vinegar. They dried apples & peaches, & canned & pickled fruits & vegetables. They had about 2 acres in gardens, which Pappy did all the gardening, & we kids helped harvest.

I remember when S.W. was born (Samuel William Jameson, b. 11/24/1923). I was almost 3 yrs old – I had been put to bed, & was wakened up & remember being carried to the bed to see my new baby brother. June (Margaret June Jameson) was born June 30 1925.

Then when I was about 5 or 6, my Daddy got the bug to go to Texas to get rich. They had a sale & sold everything, bought a Ford touring car, & packed us all in & went to Texas – they & 2 or 3 more families & we all camped & cooked.

June was a baby when Daddy got the bug to go to Texas. He had an older brother (Lorenza T Jameson) & sister (Mamie Jameson Curlee) living in Itasca, TX. I remember living on a farm owned by a Mr_______ & Ruby Gra & Angie picking cotton & dragging these long cotton bags. Mama made me a bag out of a flour sack, with a strap across my shoulder – I was 5 or 6 yrs old. Cotton prices dropped, & we didn’t get rich, & I remember my mother crying, wanting to come back to TN. I cannot remember my exact age & exactly when we returned, but it was in the Spring of 1927 – as Don (Harold Don Jameson) was born May 2, 1927 – Pappy was very ill with kidney disease. Pappy said Ruby Gra could fix his pillow just right – she had already decided to become a nurse.

Pappy died June 1, 1927 – oh, how his whole family mourned – He was a kind, gentle man that loved & cherished his wife, children, & grandchildren. He was respected by all his neighbors & friends.

We had moved back into our old house, but had very little furniture or money – the Depression had hit. Daddy was able to get a job at Brushy Mountain prison, with a political pull by Mr. Jim Cummings (a lawyer & state senator). We moved & rented a house at Braxton [a community that no longer shows up on maps] on the Woodbury Highway. Ruby Gra, Angie, & I rode a school bus (a cattle truck with benches bolted down on each side, one down the middle, & a canvas tarp covering the bed). It was very cold, as there was no heat. Then a short time later, we moved about a mile from this place & rented another house. I remember fondly the good times we had living there. There was a large family close by & we played marbles constantly with these kids. Also, my parents bought a pony, & S.W. taught Billy to ride you up to a fence between the house yard & the barnyard, & stop suddenly - & over Billy’s head you would go! No broken bones, but lots of scrapes & bruises.

There was a family close that owned a pony buggy, & my mother would borrow it & go to Bradyville to see her mother. Those were happy carefree days that (I) had, & the only sad time was when Daddy came home & had to leave to return to his job. We lived near the Stones River, & I learned to swim there. Ruby Gra had finished High School & went in training at St Thomas Hospital in Nashville – then Angie followed in her footsteps & went in training also. I don’t remember the yrs we lived there. Ward (Ward Kane Jameson) was born there April 11, 1932.

Some time after that we moved to Woodbury. We rented ½ of this colonial house that was built before the Civil War by ______ Gray on Eastland Heights in Woodbury, which had lots of children. We played “kicked the can”[sic] at night under the street light. We walked to school each day & it was a long distance as school was on the other side of town. I don’t remember how long we lived in this house – until there was a large house at the foot of this hill for rent; we moved there, but we still had the same friends. All summer we went swimming at the bluff, which was a large pool of water. Then as I got older & had boy friends, & we could have company at home. Mama was understanding – Mother was young at heart, & loved by young people, but she kept an eye on you, & expected you to do your best, & you did not want to disappoint her. I attended Woodbury Church of Christ, & was baptized in the Stones River by E. H. Hoover in 1934.

These years I spent my summer vacation with Mammy & Uncle Bell – I missed my brothers & sister – but I was spoiled by Mammy & U. B. I loved home made ice cream, & each Sun. morning M. made this rich ice cream, & Uncle Bell cranked the freezer. I would eat all day – Mammy fried chicken for me – at home we couldn’t afford chicken like Mammy could. Mammy had a girl that lived with them, just to keep the house neat & clean. Also a woman to come in once a week & do the laundry. Then she would take the soapy hot water &scrub the kitchen floor & 2 back screened-in porches. But Mammy did all the cooking – she was so clean & particular with her cooking. Also no one could cook as well as she – but that is all the work she did. She had all her sewing done. In the afternoon after dinner – that was the main meal – Mammy made 2 kinds of cornbread; egg bread for she & Pearl (the housekeeper), & 2 pones of hot water bread baked in a spider for Uncle Bell (he was spoiled too). I would eat Uncle Bell’s bread with him – all us kids loved Uncle Bell’s bread. Pearl would wash the dishes & tidy up the kitchen, & Mammy would go to her rocker (the one we have) & I would comb her long white hair with her fine toothed metal comb. Mammy would order material from Sears, & have my dresses made by a seamstress – also my shoes & underwear for the summer – except I would go barefooted all summer.

In 1935 my grandmother Inglis died. The 4 children divided the household items among themselves, & I have some of these – one being her Bible (& rocking chair). About this this time they had a sale, & Mama got the farm that Pappy bought at Asa Todd’s sale. I think it was a _____ (sentence left unfinished).

Daddy quit his job at Brushy Mt. & came home & we moved to Bradyville, we rented this [sic] & Daddy & the boys cut cedar timber & the logs to Murfreesboro & worked in the store for Belford Rogers. Oh, how I hated to leave Woodbury & my friends there. I still went to high School & rode the school bus to Woodbury – I hated Bradyville, & was very disagreeable & hard to live with – then I made friends my age & we had fun, but my heart was still at Woodbury.

Then my mother had cancer of the uterus, & had surgery – but died from an infection (it was before penicillin). Ruby Gra had graduated from St Thomas (Nursing School in Nashville), & was head nurse at Good Samaritan Hospital (in Woodbury). Oh, what a sad day for us – here Daddy was left with a 15 yr old, SW 13, June 10, Don __, & Ward 5 [SB note: I believe she was off a year or two on the ages – her mother died in 1937]. I didn’t know how to cook much – we were so poor & helpless. Daddy decided to move us to the farm – he had no tools or stock – oh, how I admire him now most men would have said, “Here, take these kids,” but he kept us together, & we survived.

After high school, I came to Nashville & took a business course. Ruby Gra & Daddy bought this house & some land that was next to Daddy’s. This must have been about 1939 or 40. Then the war came, & I went to work at (Sewart Air Force Base in) Smyrna in 1943. Angie had graduated from St Thomas in 1939, I believe. She moved to California. June had graduated from high school & went in training at St Thomas. S.W. & our cousin left for the Marine Corps. I worked at Smyrna from 1943 to ‘46, first at Quartermaster, then it was changed to Air Corps Supply. The end of the war came

(Here, her writing stops, and she never finished what she was going to say next.) - Scott F. Bingham, November 2021.)

Sources

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/237057448/erlene-mae-bingham
• personal recollection passed down to Scott Bingham
• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SPWQ-912 : accessed 26 September 2021), Earline Jameson in household of Willie Mae Jameson, District 02, Cannon, Tennessee, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 2, sheet 1A, line 25, family 8, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 2235; FHL microfilm 2,341,969.
• "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JRR8-76X : 9 January 2021), Erlene M Bingham, 21 Sep 1998; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).