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Left to Right - Jess, Jack (the black
dog), Cora, George Frank, Haidee Love Ardelia, and Tom Preddy. The picture
was taken around 1908 in Rogers Mill County, OK.
The George Frank Preddy Family
George Frank and Haidee Love (Linville) Preddy
Frank Preddy was not the first Preddy to come to Barry County. Their son,
Thomas Jefferson, came into the area first.
George Frank and Haidee were born and married in North Carolina. Their first
son, Thomas Jefferson, was born in North Carolina. George Frank and Haidee
got itchy feet and one day they boarded a train for Texas. While in Texas
they added three more children, Johnnie, Jess, and Cora.
When they heard about the free government land in Oklahoma they got the
fever to move again. They loaded all their belongings in a wagon and headed
for the Oklahoma border. They ended up in Roger Mills County between Elk
City and Hammond. There they homesteaded on one hundred sixty (160) acres.
This area was mostly sage grass with very little timber. They built a home
on the homestead. It was mostly a dug out in the ground. The houses built
costly in the ground were called a Soddy. There was only a small amount of
lumber to finish the top part of the home. This lumber was very expensive,
however and had to be hauled from Elk City twelve miles away by wagon. The
family did not have money for very much lumber.
Here they lost Johnnie added Ardelia to their family. They had a girl, Josie
Ardelia (Deal) born during a storm. The storms were not unusual for that
part of the country. However this was a severe storm and the family had gone
down into a storm cellar in the ground while in the storm cellar Josie
Ardelia was born.
There wasn’t much for a teenage lad to do on the prairies of western
Oklahoma. Thomas Jefferson Preddy began to have the wanderlust. He spent
some time here and there. One day he met a man who was taking some horses to
Cassville , Mo. He was invited to go to Cassville and ride a horse. After
surveying the Cassville area, he saw all the trees and lush green grass. He
was amazed at such a site. It was nothing like western Oklahoma prairie and
sage grass lands. One day he wandered upon some large blackberries.
He couldn’t believe his eyes. He picked a container full and took a picture
of the black berries to send back to his parents. He told them in his letter
that there were all kinds of produce growing big and lush in the Cassville
area. He wanted his parents to move to Cassville. After a period of time the
family loaded up the wagon again and headed for Cassville. By the time they
arrived in Cassville, Tom as he was affectingly called had met a girl he
wanted to get to know better.
The family had been in Cassville for a few months when Frank developed a
serious illness. After a period of time, Frank wanted to return to western
Oklahoma where some of his relatives lived. The family returned to western
Oklahoma. In a few months Frank passed away. As time passed Haidee Preddy
and her daughters, Cora and Ardelia, returned to Cassville where Thomas was
living. By this time he had married, Beulah Sanders, the girl of his dreams
that he had met earlier. To this union three sons were born. Tom Preddy and
Beulah with their younger son, T. J. went to Michigan to work as the war
clouds were gathering about 1940.
While in Michigan T. J., a sixteen year old drowned. They brought his body
back to Cassville for burial. Tom and Beulah came back to Cassville after
their son had passed away. They started a fruit stand. They went to Monett
and Joplin to wholesale houses and bought fruit and some other things to
sell in their stand. Their business did well.
Soon they were able to get in a building. After they were in a building for
sometime, the owner of the wholesale house in Monett call Tom one Saturday
morning and said that he had a lot of bananas that was going to ruin. He
wondered if Tom could use them. Tom and two of his nephews, Jack and Floyd
Tucker, went to Monett and brought back about 400 stalks of bananas. The
stalks had several dozen bananas on each of the stalks. He sold the stalks
for 75 cents a stalk. During that Saturday afternoon any direction one would
look up and down the streets one could see people carrying a stalk of
bananas. By 4 p.m. that Saturday the entire banana was sold. Tom did well in
the store. His son Robert came back from Michigan and helped him in the
store for several years. Robert sold cars, also. He would go to Michigan and
get cars and bring them back to sell. He did quite well with the cars for
many ears. In later years Robert and Gerald had a tool making shop. They
made special tools for different companies.
Jess married Ima White they had five children. Since both boys were getting
settled in Cassville Mrs. Haidee Preddy and her daughters, Cora and Ardelia,
returned to Cassville to make their home after her husband passed away in
western Oklahoma. The oldest girl, Cora, married the brother of Tom's wife,
Clarence Sanders. They had 8 children.
In those days there was little work for a widow lady to do. Mrs. Preddy did
sewing for people to support herself and daughter, Josie Ardelia. Ardelia
had to drop out of school in the seventh grade and work to help her Mother
make a living. Ardelia, as she was called by most people, worked at a bakery
for some time. She developed a friendship with a daughter of the man who
owned the Cassville Democrat. There came an opening in the newspaper office
and she started working there. She fed the press as they called it to print
the newspapers. After spending some time there she was able to get a job at
the telephone office as a telephone operator. Ardelia worked at the
telephone office until she met and married Oliver Tucker in June of 1926.
Oliver Tucker was a native of the Eagle Rock area. They made their home in
the rural Cassville area. They had two sons.
This history of Frank and Haidee Preddy is written with pride and
appreciation of the contributions and sacrifices our fore-fathers have made
during their lifetime. The present and future generations should be grateful
to the past generation for all that has been done to bring us to the present
with all our conveniences and privileges. History does not record all the
trials and hardships Frank and Haidee endured as they made their way from
North Carolina to Cassville, Missouri. Because of their continual trek
forward looking for a better way of life, they came to Cassville. Here their
children stayed and raised their families. Their decedents have made
contributions in their own way toward the betterment of mankind. Thus the
writer of this article recognizes with pride and appreciation the
contributions of those who have gone on before. The writer believes that
future generations will come to know and appreciate their heritage.
These historical memories were compiled by Sarah Tucker Poff with the
assistance of her father, Jack Tucker and oral history given to them by
Ardelia Preddy Tucker.
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Blackberries Bring
Preddy Family to Cassville
Tom Preddy, a young man from western Oklahoma, traveled the country side
looking for work. One day he met a man who was taking some horses to
Cassville, Mo. He was invited to go to Cassville and ride a horse. After
surveying the Cassville area, he saw all the trees and lush green grass. He
was amazed at such a site. It was nothing like western Oklahoma prairie and
sage grass lands where he was from. One day he wandered upon some large
blackberries. He couldn’t believe his eyes. He picked a container full and
took a picture of the black berries to send back to his parents. He told
them in his letter that there was all kinds of produce growing big and lush
in the Cassville area. He wanted his parents to move to Cassville. This is
what brought the Preddy family to Cassville.
This is oral history
told by Ardelia (Preddy) Tucker and Recorded by Sarah Tucker Poff. It must
have meant a lot to Haidee for the blackberry picture to have been keep all
these year. It would have been taken around 1914 -1915. |