Granddad JC and his parents

So what kinds of things did you do with your parents?


I took care of the cows; [Mom] did the milking. I helped her make the beds sometimes. That’s about what she did in the mornings. I really wasn’t home that much. I was out in the fields--we were--after we ate breakfast in the mornings, if we weren’t going to school, we were out in the fields somewhere, chopping cotton or that kind of stuff.


What made you love your mom?


Well, she was my mother. She used to always read the scriptures, every evening. She could prepare any kind of food and make it taste good. She was nice to everybody, and she was just a nice person. She didn’t have--I think she had a 3rd grade education. She went to the 3rd reader; I guess they called it that. My dad went to the 2nd reader. But he was working on the farm all the time.

What kinds of things did your mom do for other people?



She helped Aunt Julia--that was her aunt, my great-aunt. We’d always have dinners and all like that and she would go over there and work with them. That’s all we did, was just family. Course, after I went in the military, she was always sick when I came home. She used to have mini strokes all the time. She’d be sitting at the table, and she’d start moving her hand or something like that. Then she was having a mini stroke; then it would go away. She wouldn’t say anything during that time.


She was strong-willed. Yeah, she was tough. She liked to have things looking nice. I remember we had yellow roses and rows of flowers around the yard. Course you know back then we didn’t have any grass in the yard, you never had a lawn. Your yard was completely sand. Our yard was. A blade of grass grew, you’d chop that up quick!

These roses grow close to where Granddad JC grew up. They could have been planted by Grandma Laura. 

Grandma Laura had roses like this in her yard 

Me: You didn’t want critters!


[laughs] I remember one time I was out there doing something there was a stick laying there and I went up to that stick, and it wasn’t a stick--it was a snake!


But Mom, she really worked hard.


Grandma: Women worked hard. They had to take care of the cow, I remember I would help my mom with the cow, you’d have to take her out to where the grass was good and stake her out.


Granddad: Our cows were really gentle. I just took them out in the morning, out of the cow pen, we’d head out across the field to the pasture. I took them up to the pasture every day and take them back in the evening. I’d go and call, “Hey-oh, hey-oh!” you know, and the cows would come to the gate you know and I’d let them out.
How did your parents discipline you?

They used little switches. I remember one time, it was really--Dad didn’t understand it. I was riding a bicycle, and the road coming up to our house was two ruts. I was coming down in a rut, and Doug was walking in the rut, and Dad was on the other side coming up. Doug did like this, and I pulled to the right, between the two ruts, and he jumped to his left and I ran right over him. And my dad tore me up! *whew!* He reached around and he pulled up a big weed--I mean it was a long one, with leaves on it, and where the leaves were were little knots. He wore me out with that. Man. I broke loose running, and I didn’t think he could run so fast. I started running and slowed down but heard him behind me and said, “whoa! I gotta start running down faster now!” I ran down here to where the Cleve’s house is here. It was dug out. It was a big open pit. The county came and got some clay that they used on the road somewhere and I just jumped off of that, down there and up the other side. I turned around and he didn’t go down there. I mean, that was uncalled for, but it wasn’t my fault, because he jumped right in front of the bicycle, I was moving to bypass him and I ran right into him. I didn’t want to do that. It’s tough.

Description of Broadus R. Connell by his son JC

He was about 6’1”. He had a normal Caucasian face, straight nose. I guess he was a pretty handsome
fella’. He told me one time he went to a square dance out here. He was havin’ a lot of fun and he was
dancing with these girls and all. Got ready to leave, and this girl was waitin’ there and he picked up 2
kids. He had Roddy and Norman picked him up and went with him. I guess Mama was there too.
He was a frank fellow. I never heard him swear or curse. Only one time. He was doing something, he  hit his hand with a hammer or something… Anyway. He really hit his hand. I think I would’ve said a lot more than he did. You never heard a swear word from him.

He could do most anything. He could butcher a cow, take it and hung it in a freezer locker down town and made hamburger out of a lot of it. We used to ride to town on the wagon without a body on it. Just sit on the tongue. The tongue is the one that goes all the way through and all the way out the front. We’d go to town and I’d be sitting up there to ride down there. He owned a store, 2 houses, you know where the creek is, over by the mill – little store restaurant there. Well he owned one store there and two houses right there.

He sold those to pay for Norman’s tuition to Clemson. So Norman graduated from Clemson. Ivy got a year or two years and he went to OCS. He was an officer. And the 505th airborne infantry division. I’ve got two pictures of him. One where he was a Sargent and when he was 2nd lieutenant. Dad worked all the time, but he liked to read the paper and joke. He was just an ordinary guy. Liked to fox hunt. He would take the dogs. A lot of mornings he’d get up and go and go fox hunting. He’d leave the dogs and come back home and go to work. And the dogs would come in and Mom always fixed some cornbread. And something else she’d put on cornbread to feed the dogs. That was the most things he do was fox hunt with some of the guys. They would go out. Said they were fox hunting one night they got this tree of ‘coons. And somebody was going to go up and try to knock him out. There was an old grey-headed man standing there looking up and that coon jumped right out on top of that guy’s head. He probably thought that was sand. You know white beard shinin’, probably thought that was sand and He was surprised I guess. Just a little hunting things. Dad watched his money and he took care of our family well.

Click to get audio from interview

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From an interview of JC Connell  by Katie on 2/10/2015
Thanks again to Mary Ann for transcribing this interview!

Granddad JC and vehicles

From an interview with Granddad JC:

My Dad and his dad both had cars, Model Ts, way back. They parked it at the old mulberry tree back at his house and uh we'd go out and play in it. See, our house was right over here, and we had a road that came and our driveway went straight up to our house, on the right side. That's where they had the barns, and the car shed, and the corral, and the pump. That was all on the far side--the east of the house. We had barn full of corn, and full of fodder and hay, and the stables.

I learned to drive on that little A Model convertible. They had a beautiful buggy and a horse when I was a little baby. They were going to church and I wanted to go but they wouldn't let me go. They'd keep me at home. I remember raising Sam because they wouldn't let me go to church. It was a real nice black buggy, then they started getting cars. He used to work on the roads here. He ran the road machines--my dad. That was the last job he had. First they had a tractor, like a D8, big tractor, pulling the road machine with a blade and Dad would drive the tractor. He had a prisoner that would operate the road machine that turned the blades and worked the sides of the roads.

They did all the roads back here, they were mostly--why, McRae road was a dirt road back then! Yep.

Izzy: They were terrible dirt roads!

JC: They were muddy, slick. I remember one time I was working for quality cleaners on a delivery truck. We got down to the country--paint hill, I think they called it that, with the red clay and all. We turned the corner and had to go up just a little incline and dad gummit the back end of the car started to slide over because of the crown in the road and it was so slick and all. It started sliding over I jumped out and took the side of the car--we had like a station wagon; they called it a suburban, the back doors would open up like that. Anyway, I took the side of it and I pushed it into the center of the road. I was about 14. I kept it from sliding into the ditch. That was really an experience!

Southern 4th of July traditions

This past weekend, I had the privilege of spending some time celebrating the most recent holiday with family in South Carolina. My maternal grandparents came to the cookout that we had to celebrate the Fourth. While visiting with them, my mom asked what a Fourth of July celebration was like when they were young. My grandfather explained his experience, starting by saying that the time around the Fourth of July was a pretty relaxed time on the farm, since the rush and busyness of Spring planting had been completed but the work of harvest had not yet started.

Next he talked about the food at the family's celebration, starting with the kids' job of churning home made ice cream.

"We'd get a piece of ice from the ice house down town and pack it in around the churn. It was the kids' job to churn it. We put some of the sacks for packing cotton in on top of the ice and churn to keep it insulated. One of my most common jobs was to sit on top of it while another kid turned the crank to churn the ice cream."

He also listed some of the things they'd eat to celebrate the Fouth--none of it involving hot dogs or hamburgers, pasta salad or potato chips.

Chicken and dumplings
Fried chicken
Corn on the cob
Fresh vegetables from the garden such as beans, okra, cucumbers, squash, and tomatoes
Watermelon
Pecan pie

Granddad said that there was always a lot of food and he always had a really good time. Grandma added in that her mom always made a coconut cake to go along with the celebrations she experienced growing up. Granddad also got a really big smile on his face when he remembered the pecan pie--it was probably a real treat! Also, I wouldn't be surprised if there was more variety served at their celebration that either I don't remember Granddad mentioning or that he didn't think to list. I'd think corn bread would be a given.

Wouldn't it be fun to try a Fourth of July celebration like this?

Family neighborhood

When Granddad J.C. was a kid, they had a little neighborhood of family members living nearby. It looked something like this:

I don't remember if Granddad said that his aunt's house was his great-aunt's or if it was just his aunt, but he said it's where Lena (a cousin of ours) and her family lived when I was growing up. Granddad said that it was like a small neighborhood with all of the family so close by. I'm sure they could see each other's houses from their own homes because Granddad said there were no trees around when he was a young boy -- all the land was used for farming crops like cotton, corn, pea vine hay, and oats for the mules.

The roses that grow along some parts of McRae Rd. and Canada Drive were planted by Granddad JC's grandfather Robert Jackson Connell. Evidently Granddad JC's mother Laura really liked the roses as well, because she planted some next to her house. Granddad said that Robert Connell's house was situated in the bend of Canada Dr., smack dab in the middle. He had crab apple and mulberry trees near his house, as well as an old Model T car that Granddad JC would play in as a boy. Granddad said that the house was nice, but that after Great-great-granddad Connell passed away it fell into disrepair and eventually couldn't be used because his family took wood from it for fuel in the winter.

Bird Brushing and Broadus Connell

I asked Granddad J.C. if his parents did anything with him and his siblings at bedtime. I wasn't sure what I'd get since there were so many kids, but I thought I'd ask. It turns out that his parents did do special things with their children at night. Laura would make sure her children said their prayers at night, and Broadus (pronounced "Broad [as in Broad Street] - us") would tell them stories from his childhood. I asked Granddad if he remembered any of the stories, and this is the first that he told me:

They would go bird brushing on the farm -- you probably don't know what that is; let me explain. They cleared a lot of land to make room for plowing and farming. When they cut down the trees, they made piles of brush. Birds would settle in the brush at night. In the morning, Broadus and 3 or 4 other kids would ease up to the brush pile. One kid was on one side while the others waited on the other side with big limbs. The kid with the side to himself would make a lot of noise, and the birds would fly out on the other side where the other kids waited with their clubs. The children would hit some of the birds out of the air and bring them home to be prepared for eating. I asked Granddad what kind of birds they were, and he said they were birds like robins and jays. Then he said that there were hard times in those days. I guess even fairly well-off farmers with a lot of land still had hungry times in those days.

Source: Granddad J.C.

New information on Broadus Connell!

I was playing around with search parameters in FamilySearch, and I found a new record for Broadus Connell! The new record I found for Broadus is his WWI draft card:

Click to enlarge

You can see his signatureat the bottom of side one. His handwriting wasn't that great, but I think it's awesome that I have seen something written by his own hand! Other important information here is that he was living in Camden, but was born in Lancaster, SC. This is the first record I've seen with his date of birth on it, too (March 31, 1891). There's also a (short) physical description of him! He was "stout" with blue eyes and dark brown hair. From the picture we have of him, you didn't have to have much extra padding to be considered "stout!"

Broadus Robert Connell

Broadus Robert Connell

Granddad J.C. described him to me as a tall man, probably around 6 feet tall. I imagine that he also had a good sense of humor, since both Granddad J.C. and Uncle Doug (Granddad's brother) were both good at making jokes. He valued education enough to sell a valuable horse that would be missed on the farm so that Granddad J.C. would be able to go to college. He himself only had a 4th grade education.

You can see how tall Broadus was compared to other men in this picture. You'd think he would have dressed up a little for a picture, right?

Birth: March 31, 1891
Marriage: April 11, 1914 to Laura Elizabeth Marcus. Broadus had just turned 23 years old less than two weeks before the wedding. Laura was 19 years old. They had 9 children, and here they are in age order, oldest to youngest:

Roddy Broadus, Norman Gonzales, Ivey Kibben, June Lucile, Stephen William, Dorthy E, Julius Clyburn (J.C.), Douglas Marcus, and Betty Joyce. Granddad J.C. is the only one of his siblings still living.

Death: June 24, 1953

1920 Census:

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Broadus worked on his farm and Laura was working as a house wife. Their three oldest children had been born. At this point, they were renting.

Something really neat from this census, when you see the whole page this was taken from, is that there are four families of Connells on this sheet (Frank, Mary, Robert, Broadus) and a family of Sinclairs (we're related to them on the Connell side). Frank Connell is Broadus's uncle, and Robert is his father. I'm not sure who Mary is; I'm guessing that she's some sort of cousin. 

There's a note along the side of the census that says, "These are all houses off from any road except country roads." I'm guessing that everyone in these houses worked on the same general farm. There are also a few African American families on the same census page, probably indicating that they were sharecroppers on the farm. Their last names are Taylor and Joye (or Jaye, I'm not sure). Granddad has told me that he remembers playing with a little boy whose parents were sharecroppers on his familly's farm.

1930 Census:

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 Here you can see that the family has grown from 5 to 8. What isn't shown by these censuses is the birth and death of Dorthy, who was born prematurely in November of 1927 and only lived for 21 days.

On a more positive note, we see here that the family is no longer renting, but own their own home and live on a farm. Broadus was working as a laborer on a county bridge, probably to bring in some extra money for his family.

This census page also has more Connells on it. Broadus's father is there with a new wife (Maggie) and a son who's the same age as Broadus's kids. Broadus's brother Charlie is also there, but the rest of Charlie's family is on the next page of the census.

1940 Census:

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This census shows all of the family members, including Bettie Joyce, the baby of the family. We see that the oldest son has already completed two years of college. 

Another thing we see is that Broadus worked on the farm for his main occupation and Laura still stayed at home. Broadus was a hard worker--he had worked fifty-five hours on his farm in the week before this census was taken. All of his children that were old enough to go to school were attending a school of some kind.

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I found a record for Broadus's passing when I was looking for more information on him on FamilySearch. Unfortunately, no image is associated with the record, so I was unable to glean any additional information from that record.

The Old Magnolia Tree

In the woods not far from the home I grew up in stands a tall and majestic magnolia tree. The old tree is so big that it takes two or three children holding hands to go all the way around it. If you look around the tree, you will see an old rotting log to one side, and then realize that it was an enormous branch that broke off the tree years ago. There are grape vines as big around as your arm hanging off of the tree. A few feet away from the base of the tree is a small clearing about 20 feet square. As you look at the clearing, you can see a some bricks and mortar--evidence that a house stood in the clearing years ago.

The house that used to stand in the clearing belonged to my great-grandparents, Broadus Robert Connell and Laura Elizabeth Marcus. Granddad J.C. grew up there. I don't know what happened to the house, but the magnolia tree was a popular destination for my older sisters and me. My sisters would climb up the grape vines to get to the first branch, which was about 10 feet above the ground. I was brave enough to do it once or twice, but I never got past the first branch or two. My sisters were able to climb high enough to see Hermitage Mill Pond quite some distance away. I wonder if Granddad climbed on that tree, too?

From what Mom tells me, the beautiful old fashioned roses that bloomed in front of our house every spring were grown from cuttings that Grandma Laura had in her garden at that house. None grow in the clearing anymore, but I have seen the same variety of rose growing along the roadside in several places in about a 1-mile radius from that house. Granddad J.C.'s family owned a lot of that land, and I wonder if Grandma Laura planted them to beautify the farmland.

Granddad J.C. told me once that there were cornfields that belonged to his family for miles around. Since then, the land has been parceled off to various family members and others through wills and sales. I remember visiting my granddad's cousin James--or "Juicy" as he was nicknamed--at least a mile further down McRae Rd. from Granddad J.C.'s house.





EDIT: Granddad J.C. says the roses at the corner where Canada Drive and Rowe Street meet were actually planted by his grandfather Robert Jackson Connell, so I'm guessing that a lot of the other roses were planted by him as well. I think it's sweet that even in a life filled with so much work and practicality, he found beauty important enough to find time to plant these roses. As soon as I have a place to plant them, I'm going to take a cutting and have some of these roses at my house.