 Dewey,
daughter of Aletha Artemis Collins and Nathaniel Hobson, holds her first
son, Ralph Hall Bartlett, in this snapshot. Ralph Hall was born March 1,
1922, and is still living in 1993 at Alene, Oklahoma. He was born
prematurely, weighing only two and one half pounds at birth, which left
him with a hearing loss due to a degineration of auditory nerve system,
and consequently he had to learn to communicate with sign language. He was
ten years old when his mother, Dewey Hobson Bartlett, died.
Dewey married Jim Bartlett and they had
these children:
1.Ralph Hall, who married Tina Durham.
2.Lily Ruth, who married Jim Harris
3.Sidney, who married Nina Johnson of California
4.Cecil Garret, who married Barbara Alexandro. Dewey Hobson Bartlett has
been dead over sixty years.
An acknowledgement must be made as to the
fidelity of the extended family around this child. They never wavered in
their dedication to him as a person. As a young man he was handsome and a
gifted worker, with a pleasant, gentle, kind way about his outgoing
personality.
This same expression on Dewey's face, can
be seen upon the photographs around the "Grapes of Wrath,"
period in Oklahoma history. One can almost feel the focusing of their
energies through the penetrating steel straight stare in their eyes. She
locks her long, delicate yet strong fingers together to hold the child
securely to her while she stands easily balancing the weight of the child.
If one was to see her walk, it would be imagined she would swing along
with easy grace these women had as they met the challenges of their
chores, through blizzard, summer heat, floods and drought. These chores
meant animals had to be tended almost as carefully as they cared for the
children. Constant cooking was the job of the young women, leaving the
older women responsible for the unending tasks of sewing the garments for
the family. Growing of food and the preserving by canning took great
amounts of time during the summer months.
These pictures seem to show poverty but in
actuality there was a warmth, security, and happiness about their homes
which were so very clean though severely devoid of material trappings.
Jayne Bejarano of Dallas and of this family
mailed the following information:
I checked the book that was compiled of all
known Red River County deaths and/or burials and found the following:
Bartlett, Dewey Hobson - June 7, 1899 - Oct. 3, 1932. Bur. Blanton Creek
Cemetery, Red River County. She apparently has a stone, as there is no
indication that this info was taken from a death record or another source
other than the tombstone. The Blanton Creek Cemetery is northwest of
Clarksville, near the community of Bagwell. |
