The Will and Molly Spence story

William Mark Spence I and his wife. Prudence T. Jackson Spence left their Alabama home just before the end of the Civil War in 1865. While enroute to Arkansas they received word that the War had ended.

By 1866, Will and Prudence had settled in the vicinity of a settlement called Big Spring near Macedonia Baptist Church and Cemetery.

At the time, the area west of Red River was a part of Lafayette County.

William Mark II, the son of Will and Prudence was nearing maturity upon the family’s arrival, and naturally he was a great help in getting the family settled.

On January 15, 1882, Will II married Mary Louvernia Davis (Molly). Will and Molly set up housekeeping in the Macedonia area and began farming the land.

On December 22, 1882, their first son, Jesse, was born, followed by still-born baby in 1885. Next was Little Buddy, born July 7, 1886, who died only two years later. Other children followed.

Hill farming proved to be too unproductive to match the ambition of Will Spence. Consequently, over the next few years he managed to acquire and to begin farming some land east of Red River in what is called the “bottoms.” Bottomland was extremely rich black clay and silt which could produce cotton and corn in huge amounts per acre compared to land in the hills.

On the other hand, the land was low-lying and subject to flooding from Red River. Will was awarded a homestead grant on the Canal land. The area in later years became known as the Canal community.

Molly was highly skeptical of moving to the new farm because of the isolation and the wilderness hardships such a location was bound to produce.

There were no roads, no churches, no schools, no neighbors, no doctors, not even midwives. In addition, there was the ever-present danger of the river overflowing and there being no certainty of escape.

A factor to change Molly’s mind was the death of their eleven-year-old daughter, Doshie. She became critically ill while Will was across the river working the farm, nearly a day’s travel by horseback. Molly sent a neighbor for Will, but by the time he arrived home, Doshie was unconscious and soon died.

Molly later agreed to move to Canal, and they did so in 1900.

The struggle was hard, but Will had great determination. By this time Jesse was eighteen; and there was Lou, who was eight, Bert, four, and Jennie Viola who was two.

Such small children had to be watched constantly because, even in the vicinity of home, there were bears, panthers, alligators, and poisonous snakes in plentiful number. Even livestock were not safe from these predators, and could be injured or killed at any time.

Food was not a problem. There was wild game in abundance, and vegetables grew in profusion from the rich black soil. Pumpkins would grow so large that it took two men to load one onto a wagon. Ribbon cane could grow ten feet tall.

Cotton, the main crop, grew as high as a man’s head, and would easily produce two bails to an acre.

There being no roads out of the bottom except by Spring Bank Ferry, the wagon loads of cotton were hauled to Doddridge to be ginned and sold.

Molly returned to the hills of Miller County to give birth to her eighth child, William III, born April 20, 1901.

The purpose was to have a midwife. Milton Dee, who followed William III in 1904, was the first child born in the Canal settlement, and the birth was assisted by a Black midwife who had moved into the area. The next child, Laura, was the first girl to be born at Canal; she was also the last child born to Will and Molly. The year was 1907. Tragedy struck the family again in 1908. At age four, Dee was with his father in the woods when a tree limb fell on the child and took his life. The trauma this brought to Will caused some speculation that he would lose his sanity. However, he did recover from his grief and continued in his usual efforts.

In 1907, Will and his older boys installed a crank telephone in their home and strung wire to Red Piver, then across the river to Spring Bank in order to connect with the Blanton residence and with J. B. Hemperley’s store.

By this means the Spences could call for a doctor when needed, and also be called by people at Spring Bank regarding the level of the river.

It was crucial to get out of the bottom before the river got too high; otherwise, the ferry could not operate due to the danger of the swift current.

The telephones therefore eliminated a great danger. Shortly afterward, the Sulphur Telephone Exchange at Doddridge, newly founded by Colquitte Holt Bigby, extended telephone service from Spring Bank to several homes and stores in the river bottom area. From that time forward, connection by telephone to other places was virtually unlimited.

In December of 1908, during bitter cold weather, the river flooded before the Spences could cross on the ferry to the hills.

They were trapped for ten days and forced to live in their barn which had been built on cypress posts twelve feet high.

Hogs and chickens lived on a raft attached to the barn. Fortunately, the family had been able to get the cattle and horses across the river to safety, but by the time this had been accomplished, there was no time left for the family to follow safely. Thus, they spent ten days in the barn.

In November of 1912, Jennie Viola, now fourteen, came down with what was then called swamp fever. It probably was malaria since it was a common disease of the time.

A telephone call by way of Doddridge, Texarkana, and Lewisville to Walnut Hill (near Bradley) brought Dr. McKnight by horseback. He worked for two days and nights trying in vain to save Jennie’s life. She was buried in Mt. Zion Cemetery at Doddridge, beside little Dee.

Despite the unceasing calamities and tragedies, Will built a two-story house with nine rooms. It was the finest house in Canal community. In 1914, it, too, suffered a flood, but no serious damage.

Will Spence died October 1, 1931, and Molly continued farming until her death, August 10, 1940. Since then, their daughter, Laura Spence Taylor, and her husband, have farmed the land.

By 1984, the year that this story was related by Laura Spence Taylor, the land had been under cultivation by the Will and Molly Spence family for ninety-six years.

Although the life of Will and Molly Spence was at times extremely harsh, both mentally and physically, many others of that time and place also endured hardships that were similar.

The harshness of the frontier had no favorites; thus, the saga of the Will Spence family serves to exemplify what many people endured through the formative years of the Miller and Lafayette county areas.