Margaret M. (Mears) McCabe

• 1860 Marion Co., AR, Union Twp
  --listed as Margaret Mears, age 8, with parents
  

Background Information

Margaret was about 3 when she came to Arkansas with her parents. She married Thomas Lyle 'Tom' McCabe (see note on James H. McCabe, husband of Lucinda M. Mears, to see connection to the 'other' Mears family) on April 20, 1871 in Marion Co., Arkansas.

From her son, Columbus McCabe, who wrote me quite often back around 1970, we have some very vivid pictures of what his mother was like and Columbus's childhood. Some of the family stories as written by Columbus to me include the following.

"Growing up, Margaret did not have much schooling, but she did learn to read and print. She loved to read the Bible and had a big Bible with large print. She enjoyed going to church and especially the camp meetings under the brush harbor. After Columbus learned to read and write, he taught his mother how to write. Margaret would spell like she talked. She spelled Columbus as 'Clumbus' and George as 'Gorg'. She disliked a tatler, a busy body, a gossiper, or a liar, as she would call them. She always said to tell the truth and let the chips fall where they may belong, if the shoe fits, wear it. She did not like stubbing or glutting as she called it.

Margaret smoked home-grown tobacco in a pipe made out of salt and clay mud which was molded to the shape of a pipe and baked until hard. A piece of cane stalk was used for the stem. She would always take a smoke after each meal. She had a rocking chair where whe would sit and smoke. Her husband, Tom, also smoked and chewed tobacco. They had a fireplace as it was known back then. It was made out of rock and a hearth in front of it also made of rock. Margaret would not use a piece of paper to light her pipe but would instead dip up a live coal of fire with her pipe and knock it off when the tobacco caught on fire. One day she dropped her pipe on the hearth and busted it. Tom made his own smoking pipe out of a corn cob and piece of cane stalk for a stem. After her husband passed away, Margaret planted a small bed of tobacco in the corner of the garden for her smoking purposes. She finally quite smoking when she got unable to grown her own tobacco as she only drew a small state pension and refused to use it to actually buy tobacco.

Margaret would cook a whole bunch each meal, but she did not care for fancy. There was always more than enough . . . She did not like prepared foods, but preferred common ordinary food. Her favorite foods included big biscuits, corn pone, ham, bacon, beef, all kinds of vegetables and fruits. There was no nicknacks as Uncle Mark Mears called them. She would make good apple and peace cobblers with piles of sugar, honey, or molasses. She always knew exactly how much cobbler, how many slices of pie, or how many cookies she had at all time. If she missed any of them, then some of the children were in for trouble.

Margaret used the old remedies - making a salve out of some kind of weed. She would boil it and put it in a white cloth and rung it out. She then put butter in the water and boiled it until thick. The salve was very good for sores, skin places, cuts and burns. When one of us children had a cold, she would grind mustard seed in the old cobby grinders and make a plaster which she would hang around our necks. She would also get May apple roots and boil them to make a syrup which tasted horrible. She also made a syrup out of whiskey and honey.

Margaret wanted everyone to attend to their own business. She liked to go to bed early and get up early. She always said that early to bed and early to rise made you healthy and wise. She had the old spinning wheel and spinning loom and used them as long as she was able. She even taught her son to use them.

Margaret really enjoyed having company and going visiting. Our family was very poor and at times barely exited. The year after the great drought of 1902 was the hardest.

Margaret also made her own washing soap. They built an ash hopper and put the ashes out of the fire place and old cast iron wood stove into the hopper until it was full. Then she would put water in the hopper and let it run through the ashes into a pot and that was what we called lye. When the hogs were killedl, she would put the pouch and other scraps of meat in the lye and boil them until they got thick. When it got cold, she would take a knife and cut it up into bloacks that were called cakes of washing soap. Those days we would cut a tree down and saw off a piece about two feet long and make boards to cover houses. Margaret made her a paddle out of one of them boards to stir her soap with. They would also cut down a tree and saw off about eight feet of it and split it up into what we called fence rails so we had a rail fence around our yard. Our house was up a little off the ground and the younger children could crawl under it. When the children would not behave, Margaret said that she was going to get the soap paddle after them. One day Columbus crawled under the house where Margaret could not reach him. He would stay under the house until he thought his mother had forgotton about what had happend and then he would sneak back into the house. Margaret would then hem him up into the corner and he would get it with that soap paddle.

One day Margaret was 'kniffit' her husband a pair of socks and Columbus was bothering her, wanting one of her good cookies. She had warned him about the soap paddle, but he kept on bothering her so she laid her knitting on the bed and got the soap paddle and started after him. He started to get under the house but she beat him there; so he started for the gate, but she also beat him there. He tried to crawl through a hole in the fence but got stuck. She caught him and got him loose from the hole. She never did use that paddle, but instead took him into the kitchen and gave him half a cookie and told him to sit in the corner and eat that and behave yourself."

Margaret's Burial

Margaret and Tom spent their entire married life together in Marion Co., ARkansas, living in Union Township.

Both are buried at the Cowan Barrens Cemetery in Marion Co., Arkansas.

Official Records

• Record found in Bible of Margaret (Mears) McCabe
  - Additions made by Columbus (1971)

Special Thanks

Back in 1970 - 1971, I corresponded quite frequently with Columbus Hansford McCabe and Luther Bryan Hall.

Both would write me some very long-detailed letters telling of their childhood and describing life in Rea Valley and atop of Halls Mountain. Their extremely long and very descriptive letters would truly make the Margaet (Mears) McCabe family come to life for me.

Photo Taken 1971
Columbus and Essie (Russell) McCabe

When I was writing them, Luther was 73 and Columbus was 83. I always looked forward to their letters. Remember at this time, they were both writing on a steady basis to a young girl of 19-20 who they had never met.

I must also thank Geneva Williams (1979-1980), Mary Ann Messick who wrote the Hall Family History in 1980 and Vena (Taylor) Strode (1972).

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1. George Henry McCabe

   
   --b. April 27, 1873 Marion Co., AR
   --d. January 14, 1945 Cleveland, OK)
   ----buried Osage Cemetery, Osage Co., OK
   --m. Clara Etta WALDEN
   --February 7, 1895 Searcy Co., AR
   ----b. January 1880 AR
   ----d. April 20, 1912
   --------d/o Mr. Walden and Martha HUTCHINS
   

   George Henry McCabe, Wife Clara
   ----- children Lucy, Tom, Martha
   Taken abt 1901 Searcy Co., AR
   Photo - Courtesy of Janie Wagnon

   * * * *
   Children of George Henry McCabe and Clara Etta Walden

   ---

   1. Lucy Mae Juanita McCabe

      --(November 22, 1895 - May 9, 1980 Cleveland, Oklahoma)
      ----buried Osage Cemetery, Osage Co., Oklahoma
      

      ---

   2. William Thomas 'Tom' McCabe

      --(November 16, 1897 - April 30, 1927)
      ----buried Osage Cemetery, Osage Co., Oklahoma
      --m. Pearl PEARCE
      ----(March 13, 1898 - February 20, 1986)
      ------buried Osage Cemetery, Osage Co., Oklahoma
      

      ---

   3. Martha Della McCabe

      --(January 28, 1900 - August 2, 1903)
      

      ---

   4. George Irva McCabe

      --(March 13, 1902 - May 2, 1903)
      

      ---

   5. Kenard Stainley McCabe

      --(May 23, 1904 - Unknown)
      --m. Lela R. BAKER
      

      ---

   6. Laura Ethel (McCabe) Dixon

      --(December 27, 1906 Searcy Co., AR - abt 2000)
      --m. Floyd DIXON

      ---

   7. Hettie Ester (McCabe) Adams

      --(May 3, 1909 - ?)
      --m. Eugene 'Gene' ADAMS
      

      ---

   8. Harvey McCabe

      --(March 7, 1912 - September 22, 1988)
      --m. Ora SMALL
      

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2. Elizabeth Jane 'Eliza' (McCabe) Hall

   --b. May 2, 1874 Yellville, Marion Co., AR
   --d. February 5, 1903 Rea Valley, Marion Co., AR
   ----buried Ott Cemetery, Maron Co., AR
   --m.Elijah Clark HALL, Jr.
   --February 9, 1893 Marion Co., AR
   ----b. September 3, 1872 Rea Valley, Marion Co., AR
   ----d. November 13, 1971 Yellville, Marion Co., AR
   ------s/o Elijah Clark Hall, Sr. and Martha Elizabeth OTT
   --------gs/o Daniel Webster Hall and Hannah W. TREAT
   --------gs/o John B. Ott and Sarah OWENS
   ----------gt gs/o Peter Hall and Mandana CLARK
   
   * * * *
   Children of Eliza McCabe and Elijah Clark Hall

   ---

   1. John Willie Hall

      
      --b. June 25, 1894 Rea Valley, Marion Co., AR
      --d. bef 1981 Bald Knox, AR
      --m. Izola HUTCHINS in White Co., AR
      

      ---

      

   2. Luther Bryan Hall

      
      

      --b. August 10, 1898 Rea Valley, Marion Co., AR
      --d. October 15, 1987 Fayetteville, Washington Co., AR
      ----buried Ott Cemetery, Marion Co., AR
      --m/1 Emma Jane GRAY
      --August 10, 1946 Mountain Home, Baxter Co., AR
      ----b. 1930 Stone City, Colorado
      ------d/o Razr Gray and Ola HALE
      --m/2 Luz Mission CANA
      --August 26, 1969
      ----b. 1929 Phillipines
      

      Luther Bryan Hall
      France (1918) overlooking the English Channel
      Taken from a lookout location

      

      Luther's Tombstone - Ott Cemetery

      

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   3. Elza Hall

      --(September 24, 1901 Marion Co., AR - March 8, 1906 Marion Co., AR)
      ----buried Ott Cemetery, Marion Co., AR
      

      ---

   4. Laura Ethel (Hall) Yates

      
      --b. February 3, 1903 Rea Valley, Marion Co., AR
      --d. November 30, 1988 Marion Co., AR
      ----buried Cherokee Memorial Park, Lodi, San Joaquin Co., California
      --m. Lee Roy YATES August 23, 1923 Oklahoma
      ----(March 19, 1897 Arkansas - January 31, 1982 San Joaquin Co., California)
      

   ---

3. Mary Elizabeth McCabe

   
   --b. November 22, 1876 Yellville, Marion Co.,AR
   --unmarried
   --d. March 10, 1895 Yellville, Marion Co. AR
   

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4. Ressie Ann McCabe

   
   --b. May 22, 1879 Yellville, Marion Co., AR
   --unmarried
   --d. March 1, 1968
   ----buried Flippen Cemetery, Marion Co., AR
   

   ---

   

5. Lily Mae McCabe

   
   --b. February 18, 1882 Yellville, Marion Co., AR
   --unmarried
   --d. August 17, 1949 Marion Co., AR
   ----buried Cowan Barrens Cemetery, Marion Co., AR
   

   ---

6. Thomas Felix McCabe

   
   --b. May 18, 1884 Yellville, Marion Co., AR
   --d. May 4, 1893 Marion Co., AR
   

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7. James Harvey McCabe

   
   --b. October 7, 1886 Yellville, Marion Co., AR
   --d. August 7, 1890 Yellville, Marion Co., AR
   

   ---

   

8. Columbus Hansford McCabe

   
   

   --b. January 15, 1889 Yellville, Marion Co., AR
   --d. March 1977 Conway, Faulkner Co., AR
   --m. Emily Urbana 'Emma' RICE
   --July 7, 1936 Harrison, Boone Co., AR
   ----b. July 7, 1891 St. Joe, Searcy Co., AR
   ----d. March 15, 1977 Maricopa Co., Arizona
   ------d/o Lenkin Rice and Mandy Allen ADAMS
   

   Columbus Hansford McCabe
   Atoka, Oklahoma in 1907 (age 18)

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9. Ella (McCabe) Taylor)

   --b. April 2, 1892 Marion Co., AR
   --d. July 1, 1966 Ventura Co., California
   --m. William Petty TAYLOR
   --June 29, 1912 Marion Co., AR
   ----b. abt 1893
   ----d. January 12, 1985 Muskogee, Oklahoma
   
   * * * *
   Children of Ella McCabe and William Perry Taylor

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   1. Clyde Hansford 'Hans' Taylor

      --(August 16, 1913 Depew, Oklahoma - May 1985 Kansas City, Jackson Co., MO)
      --m. Charlotte ADAMS ----(September 8, 1916 - Decmeber 16, 1981 Jackson Co., Missouri)
      

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   2. Vena (Taylor) Godfrey

      --(April 28, 1915 Depew, Oklahoma - ?)
      --m. Loren Vancel GODFREY
      ----(December 6, 1901 - September 1984 Jackson Co., MO)