Welcome To Christine's Grimes Genealogy Website!

LETTER #2

This is part of the letter of   "Zeke" William E. Grimes, son of second marriage of Benjamin William Grimes. I do not know who he was writing to; it was to a "Dear Old Friend," dated 9/24/1962.

Page 2: Brandon had Oil Mills, Flour Mills, Three Cotton Gins,Two Banks- one your father took over later. Good school and some of the best people on earth live in and around on the black land, Your father was the leader in the gang around the stove in the wintertime and out on the benches in front of the store at night of all the laughing, those good old men enjoyed themselves. My Dad would take me to town with him every night. We would start home, He would start whisling. He would say that Gus Giles is the best tale teller we ever heard. (NOTE: Here I gather he has written a son of Giles) Mr. Giles had his followers and my dad loved him. I remember all the old timers. My cousin Joel Grimes was the first child born in Brandon. It's a shame that all these happening about good old Brandon should be forgotten.---- (NOTE: I think Zeke may be looking down on us with a smile on his face knowing that we are trying as hard as we can that we want to preserve the History of Brandon and the History of the Family, also. He went to Dale/Coffee Co ca 1926 , met some cousins on the Dowling side, It's too bad that he did not get to the old farm house on Ft Rucker before it was torn down.)

Back to Milford Lodge (if any one knows where the main lodge for the Masons is that would be a good soure for the Info on the family) My father B.W.Grimes has paid the way for five people to join the blue lodge at Milford,Tx. This started over one hundred years ago (NOTE: Maybe he means the lodge) First was Henry B. Grimes ,his brother (NOTE: He must have meant Henry E. the youngest brother for Henry B.was the father of B.W.G.) My father lost his father at the age of 12, and he had to take care of his mother and younger brother. However, he had an older brother who he said to be the strongest man in Alabama. He was Tall, Good Looking, and there was no equal for strength. He was a peaceful Man, but did not like to work. He loved the ladies ,and usually had his pick. It was said, he was the only man in alabama that could stand with both feet in a half a bushel and reach out and lift a hundred pounds of wheat without bending a knee. In the logging days back in Alabama he was the only one who could stand on one log flat footed going down a swift river. Uncle Pink Grimes , he had one son named Pink. Pink's son Pink was a railroad engineer in Waco. The fight promoter tried to get him to go in training to fight Willard for the World Championship.

NOTE: Zeke was born October 10, 1894; so he was almost 68 years of age when he wrote this. He died just a few months later on November 6th, 1962. If I remember right, he is the one that had the markers put at the graves in Brandon/Bryon cemetery. Another note of interest, B. W. GRIMES was a farmer, and his brothers were carpenters, Pink, John Thomas, and Henry E. GRIMES all had a hand in building the houses that B. W. GRIMES lived in. They, also, helped to build the Methodist Church in Brandon. This is what Ranald STANDLEE told me; he lives in Brandon, Texas. (Typed by Christine GRIMES Thacker)

Email Christine