Page 67 - memories-of-golde-dicks-markham-(1996)-golde-dicks-markham

Memories of Golde Dicks Markham (1996) Golde Markham Dicks 52/125

had a blacksmith shop, he could make a trap in no time. Pa would wait a few weeks, then
he’d get,a new trap, and we’d trap again. When we got more fish than we could possibly eat,

Ma and Pa divided them with my grandparents.
Every fall Grandpa Tyre and his son, who was still living at home, would take a week
off from their farm chores to go to Cedar Key to get mullet. But they didn’t catch the fish.

They bought the mullet then cleaned and packed them in several wooden boxes and then
loaded the boxes onto their wagon for the trip, back to the farm.
Most of these mullet had roe in them. (Grandpa Tyre and Pa loved fish roe. Grandpa
alternated a layer of fish with a layer of salt in the boxes. The mullet would keep because

they were packed in the salt for some time. Grandpa would divide the fish with us and his
neighbors. Ma had to wash the salt off and soak the fish overnight before cooking them.

Aunt Sarah, Pa’s oldest sister, married Butler Toney. Sarah livedto be 84 years old.
Out of four girls in that family, she was the only one to live past 17. Mabelle (“Mabl'e”) lived
to be 17 years old, Laveenier was 5 months old and Katie was 17 months old.
The first time I remember seeing Aunt Sarah was when my parents and I spent a

Sunday with her and Uncle Butler. They lived where Arkey Rogers now lives on Highway 41
south of Lake City. Aunt Sarah cooked rice for dinner—which was the first time I ever ate
it. My mother added butter on my rice (that day, and I thought that it was the best thing I had

ever eaten.
Not long afterwards, Aunt Sarah and Uncle Butler moved to the Amber Smith place.
Sarah put up a small'building across what is now the Toney house; she opened up a little

store. I imagine Grandpa Dicks, her father, financed this project because Uncle Butler was an
alcoholic. I think Sarah had to make the living.
When Uncle Butler started drinking, he’d hide his bottle of whiskey from his wife, but

Aunt Sarah would hunt until she found it. A prominent knothole was located on one of her
bathroom floorboards. Whenever she found his bottle, she’d pour the whiskey through that
hole, and it would go under the house.

Sarah Toney sold cold drinks, chewing gum, candy, crackers, bread, and black pepper.
She accepted eggs for pay on anything she sold. My mother would give me a dozen eggs to
carry to Aunt Sarah’s to get a can of black pepper and a can of Prince Albert tobacco for Pa

who rolled his own cigarettes. He also smoked a pipe filled with Prince Albert tobacco. If

52

www.LakeCityHistory.com LCH-UUID: C15F5985-B57F-498C-9C99-F425FA07E049