From Virginia Through the Southwest:Information about Ozie Dean Pruett
Ozie Dean Pruett (b. April 23, 1873, d. April 09, 1956)
 | Ozie Dean Pruett family circa 1916 |
Ozie Dean Pruett (son of John Perry Pruett and Mary Jane Parrish) was born April 23, 1873 in Charleston, Delta Co. Texas, and died April 09, 1956 in Canton, Texas.He married Minerva Irene Small on September 16, 1894 in Charleston, Delta Co. Texas.
Notes for Ozie Dean Pruett:OZIE DEAN PRUETT was believed to have been named after his mother's Swedish and Cherokee ancestors. Ozie was the youngest of the four children of John Perry Pruett and Mary Jane Parrish, and he was an infant when his father died at the age of 25. At Christmas time 1924 Ozie wrote his childhood memories in a blank journal titled "Family History And Home Record" which his son Haskell had given him. It was Ozie's own handwriting and dated December 22, 1924:
"I well remember the story of my Grangfather Parrish being wounded by the Creek Indians in Alabama.He had his horse staked in a ravine near the house to keep the Indians from finding and stealing it.When he went for it at early dawn the Indians commenced to shoot at him.Having no gun around, Grandma brought him one.He rounted the Indians, but they wounded him with a poison arrow so that he died within a few hours.They also got his horse.This was something like 5 or 6 months before mother was born in February, 1846.
"[Record] of Ozie Dean Pruett, born April 22, 1873, near Charleston, Delta Co., Texas.Father died Aug. 21, 1873.Mother left Delta Co. TX, Jan., 1874 - - ox wagon for Bell Co. TX with me, my brother and sister. With a boy as hired hand to drive wagon.Via Dallas, Waco, got to Bell Co. - - Feb. 1874.30 days on road, first stop 1 mile N.E. or where Holland is now.(By the way, I made the same drive in Chevrolet car, over most of the same roads in less than 1 day, July 24, 1924, distance of 280 miles.]My first remembrance is of a most beautiful country, high grass, large herds of cattle and sheep.
"I remember seeing only o wild buffalo (1878).Cowboys were chasing it then, killed it in about 1 mile of our place.We had part of the meat.I have slept on Buffalo Robe many many times, makes fine soft bed. I saw the last big herds of cattle leave Bell Co. and the last big droves of sheep.Theywere dropped in Tobacco Juice to kill the scab (in 300 yds. of our house).
"My first school of about o or 2 months (spring 1878) was at Post Oak.About 3 miles north of where Holland is now.My first teacher, H. D. Patterson, better known as Peg Leg.My first day in school, I saw a mouse running along the wall and I ran for it calling as loud as I could for Mr. Patterson to come and help me kill the rat.By the time Mr. Patterson got me stopped and quiet the school was in an uproar of laughter. (I thought it strange the way they sat so in their seats and laughed, for at our home all of us would try to kill all mice.) In about 3 days more a quick thunder shower come on, so I jumped up and hollared to Mr. Patterson that it was raining, he got me quiet once more, and don't remember of giving him any more trouble.
"Mother married a John Cockrum in Aug. 1879. I had Typhoid Fever in Sept. 1879.Late that fall we moved to what is now the James Place 3/4 mile s.west of Holland.I played in the creek bottons, catching oppossums, coons, squirrels, skunks.I knew where all the nests of birds, crows, hawks, and eagles were.It was about this time 1880 I was covering up an oppossum that I had killed when I accidently put my finger in its mouth.I still carry the scar on my finger where his teeth cut as I pulled my finger out.
"When I was 8 years old I caught and petted a screach owl and had to dispose of it on account of too much noise at night.The next school I attended was near where the M.K.T. bridge crosses Diars Creek. Mr. Willson was my teacher.I attended about 2 or 3 months in early part 1882, in April 1882 the R.R. was built through Holland.I worked in the field and watched the smoke of the construction train for about 3 days before it came in sight.It was quite a mystery till it came to where I could inspect it close, then it was simple enough.Well back to me in my growing up.
"Each and every boy had to learn to ride and shoot.Not only to ride horses, but to ride yearlings, cows, bulls, or anything that he could get on. We always had yokes and bows, so we worked all the cow pen calves, same as the older folks worked the oxen.I have been to mill working2 calves to a sled, with 1 1/2 or 2 bushels of corn to be made into meal.Our kind of cattle there were the longhorn kind, calves 1 year old would have horns 8 to 12 inches long.Grown steers 5 or 6 or 7 years old would have horns from 5 to 7 feet from point to point.Horses at this time were all Spanish or mustang.Hardly anyone would get just what you call gentle.So oxen were the most dependable work animal for farm and wagon.The first gin I ever saw would take all day and part of the night to gin 3 or 4 bales of cotton and no steam about it at all.All ox or horse power with one stand.
"In the early spring we had great fun, swimming, gathering wild dewberries and fishing.In summer: Swimming, fishing and going into trees covered with mustang grapes and eating them.The vines grew so thick you could lay down most anywhere on the tree top without holding or falling off.In the fall: swing on vines, gathering pecans, black haws, red haws and winter grapes.
"So I must have been about 13 or 1886 when I attended school again in the town of Holland for about 2 months. Nothing learned.Then when I was 14 went again for about 2 months, same results.
"I left home in November 1889.Went to Greenville, worked a month or 2, back to Holland in Jan. 1890, made a crop on Dr. Rucker's farm with oxen as farm animals.(Oscar and Alice) my brother and sister and I worked together, made 8 bales cotton and 300 bu. corn.Got it all out by Oct. 15.On Oct. 20, 1890 I started to school at Holland, Tx, paying my tuition and working at Mrs. Douthitt's for my room and board.I was so far behind being in the 4th grade at age of 17.In three terms of about 8 mo. each I completed high school including the 11th grade beginning in the fourth grade.But I finished all books as fast as I could asking and receiving examinations and passing on to the next grade.I studied at night till eleven and then get up at 4 most of the time to begin again, so by the time I had finished my eyes were nearly given out.But they got stout again.(My teachers here 1890 & 91, 91-92, Halbert, W. C. 1892 & 93 Jones.)
"This Dec. 22, 1924, I am nearly 52 years old and can't keep my pen where I want to.Very cold tonight.If I can think of anything of interest I may drop back to some more of my early life, not of the trouble I had but something of boyhood."
In 1890 Ozie and brother Oscar rented a farm.Their sister Alice did all of the house work and also helped in the field.By the end of October they had harvested eight bales of cotton and 300 bushels of corn.Each of the siblings earned one third of the profit.
After Ozie Dean Pruett was grown, before 1893, he returned from Holland, Texas to Delta County to see his grandfather, Ransom Marion Pruett.Ozie tried to locate the grave of his father, John Perry Pruett, but the two old-timers who were at the funeral home 20 years before could not agree on the location of the grave, so Ozie never knew for sure where his father was buried in an unmarked grave. Ozie said, "Where he is buried is now farm land."Ozie also visited his uncles and aunts near Pittsburg and Leesburg.His Uncle Marion (Francis Marion Pruett) had children Molly, Dora, Oscar and Luna, and there were other kin who moved in the "young set."These ties remained strong throughout his life.
In 1893-94 winter, Ozie stayed with his grandfather and attended a private Business College and what he learned in this training him much in years ahead.His penmanship from this training was outstanding.
In April 1894, after school was out, he crossed the Sulphur River into Hopkins County looking for a farm job.It was Sunday afternoon. Henry Chapman hired him by the month, with room and board as a part of the pay.In a short time he met the youngest sister of Mrs. Chapman.About month later Ozie took a similar job with the sister's father, Lem "Pap" Small.After the day's work in the field, Ozie helped "Nervie with the milking and other chores about the farm (ideal situation for evening courtship).
Minerva Irene "Nervie Small was the youngest of 14 children.All of the daughters had marrid and gone from home."Pap" Small was now blind and his wife also growing old.Anyway, a fast courtship resulted in a marriage.Ozie's record of the wedding:
Date:Sept. 16, 1894
Place: At Home of Grandpa R. M. Pruett, near Charleston, Delta County, Texas, within a mile of my birthplace.
Clergyman: Rev. John Ragsdale, Baptist Minister
Bridesmaid: None
Groomsmen: None
Guests: Two or three
Gifts: None
Wedding Journey: In a 1-horse buggy from J. L. Small's place to the wedding, then to Mary and Henry Chapman's.The next day to return the buggy to J. L. Small and me (O. D.) to the Cotton Patch.
The "Panic of 1894" was on and cotton prices were low.After picking a bale of cotton, having it ginned and hauling it to Sulphur Springs they only got a sack of flour and pair of shoes for Minerva for it.
During 1895, the youg couple stayed with her parents.Ozie did the farm work and Minerva cooked for all four and her youngest brother, Criss Small, when he was home.Another brother, Jim Small, who lived with his family close by, meddled into the arrangement so that Ozie settled with his father-in-law for an old wagon and poor team.The young couple left, headed west, before any crop was gathered.They wound up in the winter (1895-96) with his folks in Holland, Texas. Ozie's half-sisters loved Minerva.Early in 1896 he went to Grapevine, Texas and got a job as a meat cutter.Times were "hard."Ozie realized his boss ws not making any money and Ozie went to Ft. Worth looking for work with the railroad. He was given a job as "section hand" on the Texas & Pacific near Mineral Wells.Minerva did the cooking for the hands at the "Section House" for their room and board.
It was not long before Ozie was discovered as being worth more to the R.R. company than just a driver of "rail spikes."He was given the job as Freight Agent at Thurber Junction, later named Mingus.He had lumber sent out from Ft. Worth on the freight train to build a little two-room house, close to the depot.Time was getting close for their first born, who arrived June 16, 1897 (Haskell). Minerva's mother came from Hopkins County, and a sister, Braddy Smiddy, came from the northern part of Palo Pinto County for the "blessed event."
Within a year they built two more rooms to the house.Thurber, only 3 miles away, was a great coal mining town.Business was good.Operas came frequently.Ozie and his wife got "passes" to all of them because of his job.The young family were among the leaders in the church and cultural center.Ozie joined Solomon Lodge No. 813. Minerva did a lot of reading and her friends helped her broaden her education and experience.
March 18, 1899, the second child Carl was born. Since Ozie worked for the railroad he and his family got free "passes" so Minerva and the children could visit her family near Sulphur Springs and all of the family could go on Ozie's vacation to his family in Holland, Bell Co. Texas.
Ozie's grandfather wanted Ozie to take over his fine bottom land farm.Minerva would not agree to live again on any relative's farm.They did agree on going back to a farm about 5 miles north of Sulphur Springs, on the "Price Place" to farm in 1901.In 1902 Ozie rented from Gregg, just n.e. of Birthright and Tira.He was on the school board for the 3-month school term, and got Haskell started in the chart class under Miss Mattie Reed, teacher.
In 1904-5 Ozie rented from Mrs. Matt Chapman, a widow with several rent farms.They lived about half a mile direct west from Tira. Again Ozie was elected on the school board.He swapped a ham of a hog for the tuition for Haskell and Carl for a 3-month term of school.Free school in Texas began at the age of 8 at that time.
On Christmas day 1904 Criss Pruett was born as the fourth son. These five years in Hopkins County were eventful years in many ways.The communities built their first rural telephone lines and laid out their first rural mail routes.Country stores sold ice, so ice cream was made on special occaisions in the homes.They were in the land of Minerva's relatives, and Ozie's relatives were within visiting distance.There were many social functions at school and church.Ozie took a leading part in the play "Uncle Josh From Joshua Hollow."Picnics and camp meetings were common.
Malaria was in epidemic state during the summer months.Ozie and his family were sick a lot and financially they were going down fast.Ozie did freight hauling for the country stores, did carpenter work and with his brother-in-law, Steve Lawrence, contracted with the road overseer to build bridges.Even so he could not keep up with the doctor bills.
Ozie's uncles Marion and "Bud" wanted to help their oldest brother's son and his family, so they invited Ozie and family to move to Reed, Greer County, Oklahoma Territory.Ozie and his family arrived on Friday September 29, 1905 having ridden, with four young sons, in the caboose of the freight train, which was brought their household belongings. They were met at Davis wagon yard by uncles Marion and Bud. Ozie and his family first lived in a half dugout andbegan at once picking cotton for an income.The family enjoyed good health.
Ozie's Uncle Marion Pruett built his a two-room house (1 mile N. and 4 miles W. of Reed) on one of his farms and rented 80 acres to Ozie during 1908. The same year Ozie Dean Pruett 33, joinedLuna Pruett, Virgil Pruett 20, Thomas Jefferson Pruitt 31 (the son of Marion's uncle Jessie Carter Farrar Pruitt), and Dora Belle Pruett's husband, Henry Jordan, on the wagon train to 22 miles south of Portales, New Mexico. Ozie staked out 160 acres. The homestead was sold to Henry Jordan's father, Joseph Jackson Jordan in 1907.
Dr. Barr, the Reed Postmaster, got approval for three rural mail routes and in November 1906 Ozie was appointed the rural mail carrier on Route No. 2 from Reed, O. T., which changed his whole future.He delivered the mail from a buggy pulled by two ponies along a 23 mile route, plus five miles each way to and from the post office.
In January Ozie's Uncle Bud sold him a choice ten acres of his farm, to the west of Reed about 1/4 mile.Ozie built a two-room house on it and moved in March 1907.Reed was a growing community and most of the neighborhood was kin to Ozie.Minerva had many years before joined the Methodist church and Ozie had joined the Missionary Baptist.Ozie's family were Baptist.When Ozie asked Minerva to join the church with him, she said she was not going to be baptized again.They compromised by both joining and both being re-baptized on August 15, 1907, by Rev. J. W. Solomon, in Sleepy John Creek.
Audie was born February 28, 1907 a mile west of Reed, while they were in the process of getting a new home almost in Reed.Ammie was born January 14, 1909 while they were still in the two-room house.Ozie again prospered. Ozie and family visited his sister Alice during August of 1909 and 1910.It was almost a two-day journey in a covered wagon from Reed to the Hogue homestead.These two visits were the only time Alice and Ozie's children saw eachother.Cousins Grace Hogue and Haskell Pruett exchanged letters til the 1970's.
In 1910 he rented land from a cousin, Will Ponder, and his sons did most of the farming.That fall they added two more rooms to the house.By 1912 the Haskell had finished the common school (now with four teachers) at Reed.After a year a high school was started at Reed, and Haskell was in its first graduating class in 1917.All of the other children attended this high school.
August 9, 1914 Ozie Douthitt Pruett, the last child, was born. In August 1915 the house was expanded to a seven-room house and a new barn and widmill were added.In 1919 Ozie bought and paid for the farm he had been renting for 9 years.This was "Home" to all of the children.
Ozie was a pioneer in spirit.He had one of the first two "Edison Talking Machines," one of the first two gasoline engine water pumps, one of the first Delco electric plants, one of the first two motorcycles (1911) to carry mail, and one of the first radios in the Reed community. He taught the Bible Class at the Reed Baptist Church for over 30 years.
Ozie, like his sister Alice, had asthma.His sons from Haskell to Audie served as his substitute mail carriers and helped him with the mail. His health allowed him to retire early in 1933, and draw a government monthly check the rest of his life (23 years).
Haskell bought the old home place and during the Great Depression employed Audie and Criss to tear down all buildings and rebuild everything in a new location on the farm.Ozie and Minerva moved to 300 Kentucky Avenue in Mangum, and lived there about 8 years before Minerva died in 1942.She had been a wonderful companion and mother.Ozie spent most of his remaining years with his daughter Ammie and her family.He was welcome athis other children's homes but only at Ammie's did he feel at home. No one could have treated him better than Ammie's husband, Tillman Newton.
Ozie and Minerva are buried in a well marked grave toward the east edge of the first addition to the Reed Cemetery.Earlier Ozie had helped buy it and he and his Uncle Tom selected grave sites very close to each other.
Source: The Pruett Pruitt Family by Haskell Pruett, Ph.D.
Census:
1910 Greer Co. Oklahoma, E.D. 115, sheet 2B. Listed as "Ozie D. Pruet" 36, married 15 years, born TX AL AL, Rural Letter Carrier.
1920
Census:
1930 Greer Co. Oklahoma, E.D. 28-8, sheet 10B, Family #230. Listed as "Ozie D. Pruett" 56, married at age 21, owns home, born TX AL AL, Mail Carrier/Rural Route.
More About Ozie Dean Pruett:
Burial: Reed Cemetery, Mangum, Greer Co. Oklahoma.
More About Ozie Dean Pruett and Minerva Irene Small:
Marriage: September 16, 1894, Charleston, Delta Co. Texas.
Marriage Recorded: October 15, 1894, Hopkins Co. Texas.
Children of Ozie Dean Pruett and Minerva Irene Small are:
- +Haskell Pruett, b. June 16, 1897, Mingus, Palo Pinto Co. Texas, d. March 05, 1994, Stillwater, Payne Co.Oklahoma.
- Carl A. Pruett, b. March 18, 1899, Mingus, Palo Pinto Co. Texas, d. December 31, 1952, San Francisco, San Francisco Co. California.
- Christopher Columbus Pruett, b. December 25, 1904, Tira, Hopkins Co. Texas, d. 1967, Newton, Kansas.
- Audie Pruett, b. February 28, 1907, Reed, Greer Co. Oklahoma, d. October 05, 1988, Salinas, California.
- Ammie Beatrice Pruett, b. January 14, 1909, Reed, Greer Co. Oklahoma, d. November 01, 1990, Dyersburg, Tennessee.
- Ozie Douthitt Pruett, b. August 09, 1914, Reed, Greer Co. Oklahoma, d. August 15, 1991, Indianapolis, Indiana.