Thursday, November 24, 2011

Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

The Golden Summers of the 1930s, Part VII
by H. Bishop Holliman 2011

The Summer of 1935....


"I had completed my first year of high school at Shades Cahaba and would be 16 the coming December.  Still too young to get a job, even if one had been available and even if I had been so inclined to pursue it!  Robert always had yard work to do and he gave us loose change...which he always had...for Saturday afternoon chores.  Also, one winter I earned some pennies for starting the fire each Sunday in the heater in the Presbyterian church....not enough to pay my way to Florida however.

When the summer of 1935 rolled around, the Dalys began to talk of another trip to the beach, and I guess Virginia and I pressured them to include us in their plans, though I do not remember any of that now.  Mr. Button evidently was included also in the planning because he, along with Virginia and me, were in the Model A Ford on a Monday morning in August when we set out again for Florida.

Robert had received some brochures from the Mississippi Gulf that attracted him to that area.  Also, Loudelle and Charles had spent their honeymoon at the "The Whitehouse", a luxury hotel in Biloxi in June, so maybe that helped lure him there instead of Florida.

Our first stop was in Tuscaloosa to chat with Glenn Barrow, the young principal of Irondale school was was attending classes there, working on another degree.  He met us on the corner of the main street of the University and we talked for about 30 minutes.  We felt bad that he had to attend classes and were going on a beach holiday.  But such was life.  He was a fine man, and we were glad to spend time with him.

Glenn Barrow, right,  served as a teacher and principal.  After his death, during the war, Bishop Holliman named his first child in 1946 after this thoughtful educator.


We went on to Mississippi, arriving in Gulf Port about sun down, and were we ever disappointed!  We saw immediately that the beaches along that coast did not measure up to those at Fort Walton and other Florida beaches.  We spent the night there, but the next morning all of us agreed that we had rather go back to Fort Walton even if it ate up another day of our vacation.  So, east went, along the Gulf Coast, through Mobile and Pensacola arriving late that afternoon in Fort Walton, in a cabin close to where were the previous summer.  We felt at home there, and content to be back there for the next 10 to 12 days.

Our facilities and daily activities were much like those of the previous summer.  Vena and Robert did the cooking.  Mr. Button was a 'fun' person, and I guess he helped with dish washing, maybe.  Virginia continued to look after Mary, and to this day, I can't think of anything I did except act as a good fishing buddy and surf swimmer.  However it was not long before we had company!

                                                 Mary Daly Herrin on the beach in Florida.
The 1935 tourist court or cabins would not, perhaps, be enticing to the 21st Century generation of Hollimans, Dalys, Herrins, Corneliuses and Ferrells!


Over the past year we had done such a good job talking up the pleasures of a beach vacation....so much so that Mama and Daddy (Pearl Caine and Ulyss Holliman) decided to join us at Fort Walton for a few days.  I don't know how they managed to pull it off...I am sure Daddy had to suffer a loss of wages for a week...but they did it!  I have forgotten how long they stayed...less than a week.  They brought with them my brothers, Ralph and Euhal and Euhal's girl friend, Anna Grace Bagley.  They found a cabin near us and we all enjoyed a few days of fishing and surfing.  All of us got along fine.  This was Daddy's first real vacation and their first time ever to splurge.  Daddy, born 1884 in Fayette, Alabama, was 51 that summer.

Below, Stewart Button and young Bishop Holliman survey their 'catches of the day' at Fort Walton, Florida.

We returned home from Fort Walton on a Saturday in August, the other members having been back for several days.  Our stay at the beach had been uneventful after their departure...lots of fishing and swimming. This may seem a mundane thing to mention now, but I remember our lunch on the way back was a sandwich shop in south Alabama.  The sandwiches were 20 cents each...a humongous sum, we thought!"

Next posting, the Great Storm of 1936....

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

The Golden Summers of the 1930s, Part VI
by H. Bishop Holliman 2011

The Summer of 1934 continued...


"Vena and Robert Daly did all the cooking, cleaning and whatever else had to be done.  Looking back now from this distance, you have to wonder how they could have endured such a life style, even just for two weeks.  Imagine, sharing the bath with a non relative, cooking for all of us all the time, hot humid weather and no attractions other than the beach and the fishing pier!  I don't know how they did it but they did!

Tower Beach and Boardwalk Fort Walton Beach Florida

Above, Fort Waldon Beach, Florida in the late 1930s or early 1940s when a boardwalk and pier were the attractions, plus of course a beautiful beach and the Gulf of Mexico.


As far as I know, we all got along fine.  Virginia and I did as we were told, and I never heard a cross word between Vena, Robert and Mr. Button.  We had a nice little cabin (in the terminology of the times).  I don't recall the number of bedrooms or other amenities and I have no idea how much it cost - very little, I am sure by today's standards.  After our first night's rest, Mary said she slept on a log.  We thought that was funny and I wrote home and told them about it!

                           The luxury cabin of the Daly's and Hollimans in the middle 1930s!


Most of our time at Fort Walton was spent in fishing, and I guess we went in the surf everyday also.  The bridge across the bay to the beach was our fishing perch, and we caught more fish than I thought were in the ocean.  Fish of all kinds - one afternoon Robert reeled in a stingray, something we had never heard of and we learned it was very poisonous.  All of us were captivated by our catch each day, and Robert arranged to 'pickle' some of them in formaldehyde in jars and bring them back home to show off his piscatorial ability.  He drove over to Pensacola to get the pickle juice and bottles.  For many years after, his pickled fish were stored in his garage up on the Irondale hill.  They were still there when I went into the Navy in November 1941.

                   Mary Daly Herrin and her baby sitter and Virginia Holliman Cornelius in Florida.

Such was our first trip to Florida - 1934.  We arrived home on a Saturday afternoon, having been gone about 13 days.  I remember being startled by how much the grass and the garden had grown during our absence.  I am sure we all went to church the next day because we would have wanted to tell everyone we had been to Florida, how many fish we caught, and to show off our tans!  We made several pictures - that are still in existence of our beach escapade of 1934.  One of Robert fishing in the surf I thought was so good I sent it to the Birmingham News, but they never saw fit to print it."


A fine day's worth of Florida fishing - Robert Daly and Stewart Button

Another Golden Summer in the next post....

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

The Golden Summers of the 1930s, Part V
by H. Bishop Holliman 2011

Below, Virginia Holliman Cornelius, Mary Daly Herrin, Vena Holliman Daly, Robert W. Daly, Sr. and H. Bishop Holliman at Fort Walden, Florida, 1934. Stewart Button must have taken the picture.

"I have never known why Vena and Robert felt it appropriate to take me along on their trip to Florida in 1934, the first of my 'three Golden Summers'.  I can understand why they took Virginia along - Mary was just three years old, so Virginia was needed to baby sit her.  But there was no earthly reason why they let me tag along, except out of the goodness of their hearts.  Also, Mr. Button was included in this, the first of their many escapades to Florida.  I don't recall any conversations that led up to the decision to take me with them.

Almost 5 million Model A Fords were built between 1927 and 1931.  As Henry Ford said, one could have it in any color one wanted, as long as it was black! This is a plush model.  The 1934 Daly car was more prosaic! GNH
1931 Model A Deluxe Tudor Sedan

We left Irondale, Alabama on a Monday morning in July at about 3 am, riding in the Model A Ford.  I have always remembered how exciting it was to be awakened that early and to head off to Florida, the first time I was to be out of Alabama and to view the ocean.  So six of us - three adults, two young teenagers and one three year old - were stacked in the two door car.  Our suit cases were slung over the hood on each side and may have even been tied to the fender opposite the driver's side.  Remember...there was no such thing as air conditioning, no radio and no trunk to store luggage.  Only two-lane roads, no fancy rest stops and very few eating places along the way.  By today's standards it was murder!  But we did not know any better.   We were headed to Florida, and besides, gas was no more than 20 cents a gallon.

Our first stop was in Clanton, Alabama where we had breakfast at the Dixie Cafe on the main street.  The cost was $2.50 for the six of us....ham and eggs and all the trimmings.  I guess Robert paid for Mr. Button's share.  Virginia and I had no money at all.  I thought the price of our meal was astronomical, and I recall writing back home and telling Mama and Daddy how much we had already spent.  We stopped in Dothan, Alabama to visit a Daly cousin, and we may have had lunch there.

I remember Virginia and I always wanting to visit places we had read about in our Alabama geography and history books, but the adults did not cotton to that idea so we never stopped.  Our goal was to reach Panama City.  We may have spent the night at a 'tourist court', reaching the ocean the next day; I am not sure now.
Young Robert Daly and wife, Vena, enjoy the beach in Florida.  Their kindness opened up a larger view of the world to younger brothers and sister.  

Whatever the day was, I remember how 'awed' I was when I first cast my eyes on the huge body of water that was Panama City Bay.  I guess I had seen Lake Purdy, but it was not like that at all!  The next day, I was even more 'awed', when we reached the beach at Fort Walton, Florida, a fairly new resort west toward Pensacola.  There we settled for the next twelve days in a one-bath cabin, an oil cook stove, no radio.  Air conditioning had not been heard of nor television.  There were no near-by eating places, no movie houses nor other entertainment.  But we were in Florida, and the beach was a couple of miles away, over the bridge that connected the town to the beach, and we thought it was pretty nice."

Next posting, more amazing adventures of a small town American family in the 1930s....