Individual Details
Verda Mable Martin
(January 6, 1907 - )
"Verda was born in Hollis, Oklahoma but spent her childhood in Montague County, Texas. Her family lived in a log cabin about two miles from Farmer's Branch school. The school had been a one room structure for many years. Shortly after Verda started school another room was added with a wall that would slide over to form one large room for after school activities. Grades one through eight were taught here.
"After Verda left school, as was the custom, she was taught to cook, keep house and quite often work in the fields. She was almost 19 years old when her father left the family and she and her brothers, Buster and R.C., did any kind of work to help support the family. Verda worked in a hotel for room and board and a small salary that she used mostly to buy clothes for her younger brother and sister, Beatrice and Alvin. On the 17th of June 1930 she married John Tracy in Wellington, Texas. John, the son of James Leonard Tracy and Leona Lee Turner, was born 14 May 1902 in Wellington. He had been married previously and had three daughters by his first wife. John was killed on 9 September 1943. He was working as an electrician installing street lights. The crew had almost finished with the job, was putting up the last pole when it got away from them. John and a fellow worker grabbed for it, but the pole struck the live wire electrocuting both men. There were no children from this marriage.
"On the 2nd of December 1944 Verda married Joseph Scherard Westmoreland. Joseph, born 2 May 1888, was the son of Alonzo Smith Westmoreland and Emma Anna May. Verda and Joseph were married in San Diego, California and later moved to Huntington Park where they lived until Joseph's death from a heart attack on the 18 February 1968.
"Verda and her son, Don, have built a house together; one side is Verda's apartment where she has complete privacy. This home is just outside the small town of Winters, California, high on a hill, with a gorgeous view of the surrounding countryside.
"RECOLLECTIONS of Verda Martin Westmoreland:
"When I was quite young we lived near Farmers Creek School just half a mile from my grandparents, Bill and Cumi Martin. Their youngest daughter, my Aunt Edna, who went to school at Farmers Creek would stop by our house on her way home from school in the afternoon. I would cry to go home with her and spend the night and most of the time I was allowed to go. I was about four years old then and I thought it was such fun to spend the night with my grandpa and grandma.
"When I was in my teens, I would go over and help Grandma. She was in poor health from tuberculosis. In those days it was the leading killer in the United States. It killed 88,000 people in just the year of 1930 before drug treatment was available. Grandma had to rest in the afternoon so I would go in another room and lie down too. When she got up we would go to the garden and gather lettuce and onions. On the way back to the house we stopped by the smokehouse where Grandma would cut some ham from one that was hanging from the rafters. Back at the house we would add a square of cornbread to our feast, then sit on the front porch and eat---it seems like only yesterday.
"In the Spring and Summer, Grandpa would go to other small towns and country schools to hold Baptist revivals. These usually lasted a week. I would go over and do the washing for Grandma. There was a big wash kettle that I filled with water and heated over a wood fire. We boiled the clothes and if they needed scrubbing it was done on a washboard. Grandpa had to wear white shirts to do his preaching and those had to be laundered, starched and ironed. When he came home I would return to wash and iron them again. I loved them both so much that I was glad to help in any way I could.
"In 1917, when I was about 10 years old, our family moved to New Mexico. We traveled the trail alone in two covered wagons pulled by horses. My brother, Buster, and I drove the second wagon. When Mother could lull the little ones, R.C. and Beatrice, to sleep for their naps she would come back and relieve us. We walked or ran along the side of the wagon, with our dog, picking up wood that could be used that night to cook the evening meal. When we stopped for the night Mother would cook supper and Buster and I would hunt for cow chips to burn so that we could have a fire until bedtime. Another evening task was to let the banty chickens out to scratch. When it got dark the chickens would come back to the wagon and we would put them back in their pen that was tied under the wagon. We made sure to close the pen door so that they could not get out because these chickens kept us in eggs along the trail. Our purpose for going West was to settle on government land. After developing it for two years it became your own land. My Aunt Elvira, the divorced wife of our Uncle Tom Martin, and her family were already homesteading there. One of her daughters, Cannie, was homesteading in her own right on adjoining land. In the short period of time that we were there I stayed with Cannie on her homestead. The only people that we ever saw were the cowboys who came to water their horses. There was a large tank on Cannie's range for that purpose. It took Dad only a couple of weeks to realize that homesteading was not for him so we packed our wagons and made the trek back to Texas.
"On the trip home Dad just couldn't resist trading horses along the way. Usually he was a good judge of horseflesh but he made a trade that he regretted. He traded for a horse that was not completely tamed and hitched it to one of the wagons. When we got to Cap Rocks, a steep down-grade road, the wagon started going faster than the horse and that wild horse really went wild. With amazing speed and force Dad was able to steer the team into a bar ditch at the side of the road. It was a close call because the other side of the road was a long way down. Our banty hen was setting on eggs that scattered hither and yon and our little dog was thrown from the wagon but so much more could have been lost if the wagon had gone over the other side. We were glad to get back to Texas but in retrospect I wonder how in the world Mother stood that kind of life." (Letters from Verda westmoreland to Reta Evans.)
"After Verda left school, as was the custom, she was taught to cook, keep house and quite often work in the fields. She was almost 19 years old when her father left the family and she and her brothers, Buster and R.C., did any kind of work to help support the family. Verda worked in a hotel for room and board and a small salary that she used mostly to buy clothes for her younger brother and sister, Beatrice and Alvin. On the 17th of June 1930 she married John Tracy in Wellington, Texas. John, the son of James Leonard Tracy and Leona Lee Turner, was born 14 May 1902 in Wellington. He had been married previously and had three daughters by his first wife. John was killed on 9 September 1943. He was working as an electrician installing street lights. The crew had almost finished with the job, was putting up the last pole when it got away from them. John and a fellow worker grabbed for it, but the pole struck the live wire electrocuting both men. There were no children from this marriage.
"On the 2nd of December 1944 Verda married Joseph Scherard Westmoreland. Joseph, born 2 May 1888, was the son of Alonzo Smith Westmoreland and Emma Anna May. Verda and Joseph were married in San Diego, California and later moved to Huntington Park where they lived until Joseph's death from a heart attack on the 18 February 1968.
"Verda and her son, Don, have built a house together; one side is Verda's apartment where she has complete privacy. This home is just outside the small town of Winters, California, high on a hill, with a gorgeous view of the surrounding countryside.
"RECOLLECTIONS of Verda Martin Westmoreland:
"When I was quite young we lived near Farmers Creek School just half a mile from my grandparents, Bill and Cumi Martin. Their youngest daughter, my Aunt Edna, who went to school at Farmers Creek would stop by our house on her way home from school in the afternoon. I would cry to go home with her and spend the night and most of the time I was allowed to go. I was about four years old then and I thought it was such fun to spend the night with my grandpa and grandma.
"When I was in my teens, I would go over and help Grandma. She was in poor health from tuberculosis. In those days it was the leading killer in the United States. It killed 88,000 people in just the year of 1930 before drug treatment was available. Grandma had to rest in the afternoon so I would go in another room and lie down too. When she got up we would go to the garden and gather lettuce and onions. On the way back to the house we stopped by the smokehouse where Grandma would cut some ham from one that was hanging from the rafters. Back at the house we would add a square of cornbread to our feast, then sit on the front porch and eat---it seems like only yesterday.
"In the Spring and Summer, Grandpa would go to other small towns and country schools to hold Baptist revivals. These usually lasted a week. I would go over and do the washing for Grandma. There was a big wash kettle that I filled with water and heated over a wood fire. We boiled the clothes and if they needed scrubbing it was done on a washboard. Grandpa had to wear white shirts to do his preaching and those had to be laundered, starched and ironed. When he came home I would return to wash and iron them again. I loved them both so much that I was glad to help in any way I could.
"In 1917, when I was about 10 years old, our family moved to New Mexico. We traveled the trail alone in two covered wagons pulled by horses. My brother, Buster, and I drove the second wagon. When Mother could lull the little ones, R.C. and Beatrice, to sleep for their naps she would come back and relieve us. We walked or ran along the side of the wagon, with our dog, picking up wood that could be used that night to cook the evening meal. When we stopped for the night Mother would cook supper and Buster and I would hunt for cow chips to burn so that we could have a fire until bedtime. Another evening task was to let the banty chickens out to scratch. When it got dark the chickens would come back to the wagon and we would put them back in their pen that was tied under the wagon. We made sure to close the pen door so that they could not get out because these chickens kept us in eggs along the trail. Our purpose for going West was to settle on government land. After developing it for two years it became your own land. My Aunt Elvira, the divorced wife of our Uncle Tom Martin, and her family were already homesteading there. One of her daughters, Cannie, was homesteading in her own right on adjoining land. In the short period of time that we were there I stayed with Cannie on her homestead. The only people that we ever saw were the cowboys who came to water their horses. There was a large tank on Cannie's range for that purpose. It took Dad only a couple of weeks to realize that homesteading was not for him so we packed our wagons and made the trek back to Texas.
"On the trip home Dad just couldn't resist trading horses along the way. Usually he was a good judge of horseflesh but he made a trade that he regretted. He traded for a horse that was not completely tamed and hitched it to one of the wagons. When we got to Cap Rocks, a steep down-grade road, the wagon started going faster than the horse and that wild horse really went wild. With amazing speed and force Dad was able to steer the team into a bar ditch at the side of the road. It was a close call because the other side of the road was a long way down. Our banty hen was setting on eggs that scattered hither and yon and our little dog was thrown from the wagon but so much more could have been lost if the wagon had gone over the other side. We were glad to get back to Texas but in retrospect I wonder how in the world Mother stood that kind of life." (Letters from Verda westmoreland to Reta Evans.)
Events
| Birth | January 6, 1907 | Hollis, Harmon County, Oklahoma | |||
| Marriage | June 17, 1930 | Wellington, Collingsworth County, Texas - John Earl Tracy | |||
| Marriage | December 2, 1944 | San Diego, San Diego County, California - Joseph Scherard Westmoreland |
Families
| Spouse | Joseph Scherard Westmoreland (1888 - 1973) |
| Child | Don Wayne Westmoreland (1947 - ) |
| Spouse | John Earl Tracy (1902 - 1943) |
| Father | James Oscar Albert Martin (1886 - 1939) |
| Mother | Laura Jane McCann (1885 - 1975) |
| Sibling | William Franklin "Buster" Martin (1910 - ) |
| Sibling | Richard Craig Martin (1913 - ) |
| Sibling | Joy Beatrice Martin (1915 - 1988) |
| Sibling | Alvin Piercy Martin (1921 - ) |