Sometimes it is a curious thing what people remember about their kin.  Here is a smattering of stories told by James Solomon HOLDER‘s daughter, Eula Mae HOLDER LINN and granddaughter Maxie Edna LINN HOPKINS.

James HOLDER, on the left, at work in the blacksmith shop

Eula Mae:  “He was a blacksmith with a handle bar mustache  He played baseball at Locust Grove.  His daughter Mamie Lee used to sleep with him when she was a little girl. Harvey Linsey was Papa’s helper.  They thought it was cute for Mamie to chew tobacco.  He had to pay her to stop.  She was about 3-6 years old.  The tobacco was kept in the machine drawer.  Eula Mae paid her sister Mamie to allow her to sleep with her daddy when she was sick.”

Maxie Edna told the story that James Solomon eloped with his first wife Alma Josephine. Alma’s father, Elsberry JACKSON did not approve of James or the marriage because Alma was so much younger than James.  Elsberry was extremely angry with James and the two never got along.  In fact, Elsberry and James never saw each other again.  Alma would sneak out of the house with her little girls to visit her father. One of James hobbies was playing poker.