Thomas Pascal Estes 1878-1950

His children report that Tom had a bad temper. It caused him problems all his life. While living in Shawnee, he wrestled his son, Lawrence, to the floor and banged his head, threatened to shoot him and finally ran from the house screaming. He married when he was nineteen, and Reecie was eighteen. The marriage lasted fifty-three years, until death. Records in the Poteau, Oklahoma County Library show he was chairman of the Republican Party for the county for several years. He received several jobs through political patronage. His daughter, Opel, recalls that he would have a big watermelon feast every year, and invite everyone to participate. Although he owned a farm, he apparently could not depend on farming to make a living, and worked at several other occupations, such as merchant, post master, road commissioner, and constable until the Depression. He ran for County Treasurer, but was not elected. The Democrat Party was successful in convincing voters that the Republican administration was the cause of the depression. After that he joined the great number of unemployed, and moved his family to Shawnee, OK where his son Leonard was living. Opel and her husband, Alonzo Nix, were working in the San Juaquin Valley of California as migrant farm workers, and wrote that there was plenty of work there. He joined them in 1934. Opel said the work was too hard for a person of his age, and he was not able to earn very much, but in 1935, he moved his family to California, and settled in Auburn, a small town in the Sierra Nevada foothills. His mother, Jane Smith, died in 1942 from burns received when her house burned. He did not know and never met any of his Estes relatives, but when he was sixty years old he made contact with his Aunt Rebecca Stavely, and learned a little of his father.

I am the 7th child born to the Estes family. When I was born my mother had a breakdown. My father and sister, Grace, took care of me for two or three years. The care and love they gave me caused me to always feel the closeness to both of them which has lasted through my life.

When I was about three or four years old, Papa bought a strip of land in the country about 1 1/2 miles from Wister. the land was near the Rock Island Railroad and the highway to Victor and Wilberton.

There was lots of trees on the land which Papa, Ernest, and Hershal cut and took to the mill to make it into lumber for building of the two story home. The trees covered the acreage of the land which was 140 or 160 acres, I don't remember.

Papa loved his wife and children. To help Mama out of her breakdown he bought a horse and new buggy for her to use, and at night he would build a fire in the fireplace, call us all in, and we would roast peanuts, popcorn, and listen to Papa's stories.

Papa told me that when he was a boy of 16 years old he left home, therefore he had only very little education so he educated his self and did a good job of it. He worked at the County Seat of Leflore County at Poteau several years. He worked later at Wister post office. He ran for office and became a U. S. Marshal in Leflore County.

The Masonic Lodge sent him to school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania so he could teach the work at different lodges.

He had a real large picture of the work hung on the wall. It had a real large eye in the middle. When ever you were in the room, that eye would be looking at you. Papa told us it was an all seeing eye and we better be good.

Every year Papa would give a big watermelon party for every one from town, church, etc,. an all day event.

I was in California five years. Clayton and I. Papa came out. He lived with us in Madera. He and I chopped cotton and pooled our money. He sent for Mama, Lawrence, and Juanita.

We got together at Madera. The heavens opened up. It rained like crazy and flooded everything. After the rains stopped, Alonzo, Clayton, Jack and I left and went to Auburn.

Later Papa and Mama came for a visit. Everything looked good to Papa so he went down town. He talked to everyone about the work, weather, and all. He came back laughing, and told us he had talked to a drunk that told him that Auburn was the garden spot of the world, too high for the fog and to low for snow. Ha! Later they moved up, and rented a house on Palm Ave. They was there for many years. Papa worked on W. P. A. for a while. He later got a labor job at McAllen Field, and rode the bus back and forth. He worked at that until he got started to drawing Social Security.

Papa developed Harding Of The Arteries and almost went blind.

In September of 1950, Papa and Mama went to visit Ernest and family. In October 1st 1950 Papa died at Ernest's.

Mother Estes.