| Joe H. Haynes is the son of Isaac Newton (Charlie) and Clara Jane Haynes
(see Charlie Haynes), and was born October 8, 1897. Joe remembers
a particular incident that occurred in 1909 when he was still a boy.
During 1908 and 1909, the Santa Anna lake was being built northeast of
Santa Anna. In 1909, Joe and his dad, Charlie, went in their wagon
to Santa Anna to locate Mr. L. L. Shield. They were informed by a
person in Santa Anna that Mr. Shield was at the lake site helping with
its construction. The lake was being constructed by men, oxen and
plows, known as “slips” or “scrapers.” The oxen were hitched to the
plows with yokes and chains, in pairs with six oxen as a team. The
future bed of the lake was quite rocky. As a result, when the plow
hit a large rock, the men holding the plow had to shake the plow from side
to side to dislodge the rock. As Joe and Charlie watched the plowing,
Mr. Shield, a large man over six feet tall, yelled to the man operating
the oxen team to “Shake the plow; shake the plow.” Mr. Shield became
impatient with the man and grabbed the plow and shook the plow himself.
When he did, a pistol fell from his coat. Mr. Shield calmly picked
up the pistol and returned the pistol to his coat and the plow to the team’s
operator. After seeing the pistol, the man operating the team shook
the plow vigorously. Joe remembers his own eyes growing wide when
the pistol fell. He watched Mr. Shield cautiously while he talked
with his dad. Joe remembers the oxen and the man that guided them.
Oxen, especially six together, were an unusual site. The team’s operator
had a long whip that was used to control the oxen. The men never
struck the oxen. The whip was used to signal to two lead oxen.
They were trained to respond to the popping sound of the whip. If
the whip was popped on the right side of the oxen, they turned left and
vice-versa. The oxen played a large role in building the lake.
In the fall of 1917, Joe started school at Texas A & M. In the spring
of 1918, Joe’s Dad was suffering with meningitis, so he left school to
return home due to his father’s illness. In March 1918, Joe married
Bessie Grant, the daughter of Charlie Owen and Frances Evelyn “Fannie”
(Chestnut) Grant. Mr. Grant’s farm adjoined the Haynes farm (see
Charlie Owen Grant). During the same year a drought had started in
Coleman County. During this time many families left the Rockwood
and Trickham area. The crops produced little or nothing and grazing
for cattle was limited. The drought turned many people away from
farming to other jobs. Joe Haynes was one of those. He was
renting a house on his Uncle Elmer Haynes’ land when he decided to work
in the oil fields. In 1919, he worked as a tool dresser. Between
1923 and 1939 he was the overseer of the Robertson ranch and lived in Santa
Anna. While in Santa Anna, their four children were born. They
are:
(1) Joseph Charles (J. C.), April 14, 1919-October 23, 1959, (killed
in an automobile accident), married Sue Joyce McDaniels, May 6, 1943.
They divorced in 1953. No children.
(2) Elsie Daphane, October 26, 1921, married William Luther (Bill) Jones,
born March 3,1919, in August 1940. Their children: William Galen,
Gary Luther, Joe Ken and Shirley Elaine. Elsie and Bill lived in
Coleman where they had an appliance store, but now have a horse ranch near
Lawn.
(3) Wayne Galen, March 11, 1925, married Jerlene Hodges, February 14,
1947 (see Joseph Sylvester Hodges).
(4) Shirley Imogene, November 14, 1934-February 11, 1936, buried at
Trickham.
By 1942, Joe and Bessie and family left Coleman County and moved to
Fort Worth. Since Bessie’s death, Joe lives with his son, Wayne G. and
family, on a farm at Roanoke. He is 85 1/2 years old and is still
quite active. |
