Jimmy E. Lawson, son of two sharecroppers, Annie Lois Edenfield and Alonza Lee (Lonzy) Lawson, born in 1935 on family land south of Swainsboro, west side of what was Hwy 1. The two room house with a kitchen and eating area burnt to the ground when I was six months old. Had it not been for my uncle Morris Lawson, the four of my family would be living on the ground under the big live oak that my grandma Lawson planted from a sprig. My Uncle Morris also bought my dad a brand-new car, ’37 Ford two-door coupe. Grandma and Grandpa lived at the Roland Place and him and the older girls and boys sharecropped the land. Also helping farm the land was a lady who went by Aunt Rosey Culbert and her four youngins, Willie, Edwin, Rosa Lee and Susie, who were all very dependable and hard workers. They could pick Grandpa’s cotton in half a day. I loved her and the kids, and we ate lots of meals she cooked in her shack of a house kitchen and at Grandma’s. The farm was on the Stillmore Road across from the Hooks’ Farm. Mother said her and Uncle Ted went to school in an old schoolhouse just up the road from the farm. They then went to the Stillmore School, then to the old two-story grammar school building. Now learning the Roland Place in the late 30’s, I remember the move went from the Roland Place via the Old Swainsboro to Nunez Road that came out close to Wes Lawson Road off of Hwy 80 North.
My most cherished memory of the J.C. Coleman place was Uncle Ted, Ray, Snook, Jake, Slick, Willie, Edwin and Luther Kemp in the two-mule wagon heading to the Hoopie River to wash out sacks so Grandma and Aunt Rosie could (after a day or two on the clothesline), hand sew the sacks into cotton sheets. No tobacco growing yet, not until the Neal Place. Lots of land but poor soil. So, a smile came on Grandpa’s, Grandma’s, Ted’s and Aunt Rosie’s faces after Grandpa found out that Mr. Jenkins was putting up the Neal Place for sharecropping to eight mules or more and Grandpa had eight plowing mules broken to the plow and wagons. I heard him say only one time, “Thank you Lord”. Grandpa’s family and his helpers finished gathering his second crop, then it was time to get all the corn, hay and livestock to the Neal Place. There were no tobacco barns on the Neal Place for tobacco growing so Grandpa and Mr. Jenkins came to an agreement that if he would let Grandpa cut the logs from the Neal timber, he and his family would build one. I think one of my fondest memories of growing up was at the Neal Place. I was still in my early teens, still playing with all our cousins, older and younger, the crane grindings, the candy pullings and the peanut boils. Grandpa had a mighty fine still in the back of the place close to the Canoochee – spring fed still and all. Grandma walked Billy, Slick and myself to it many times. The Police Department in Swainsboro wanted grandma to work on one of her off nights. By working the police job, selling corn liquor and cotton and tobacco sales, Grandpa was able to buy Booger Coleman and his wife’s place. There is not enough ink to cover all the events and happenings there. We moved to the Coleman Place in 1942-43 and it took a while with eight mules, cows, milk cows, hogs, dogs, cats chickens, sweet potato banks, pantry with jar after jar of canned foods, a smoke house that had ham and shoulders hanging, cane grinding mill, syrup, wash pots, watering troughs, sprouts from the monster fig tree, mulberry sprouts, muscadine sprouts, on and on.
Man ‘ole man be The Rolling Store. Two eggs got you a Baby Ruth, Almond Joy or 10 peanut butter logs. Two eggs got Grandma a small package of goodies or a small tin cup of Garrett snuff. Four eggs got a big spool of thread or Grandpa a plug of Brown Mule chewing tobacco. After the move and the dust settled, I knew where every hen was laying and what day The Rolling Store came by. Lord, I miss those days.
The first year of tobacco seed bed, a snuff can of seed (not the small ones like Grandma carried in her apron) cost Grandpa a $50 bill. All seeds back then came out of Florida. The tobacco growers like grandpa met the seller on the courthouse square with their money. No credit cards, no IOU’s back then and that was a lot of money for seeds. They were top-notch seeds. Grandpa was one of the top five farmers in Emanuel County, along with Mace Henry, John Ivy Brinson, Mr. Canady in the Nunez area, and Olin Roundtree.
The Korean War was lurking in, and I went to the Army first for a year. I wanted to get to Korea and fight so bad, but brother Charles was there fighting. As close as I could get was Formosa, which is Taiwan now. No brothers or sisters could be in the war zone together back then. It came about after the four our five brothers in WWII got killed while fighting in the same battle. So, I joined the Air Force. I am a Korean Vet, ’53 and ’54, as a Corporal in field artillery and a Senior Master Sergeant First Sergeant my final year of service, and Active Reserves. I was First Sergeant on the 12 Air Force Combat Support Group with two tours in Vietnam in Fire Action in between the Korean and Vietnam Wars in bombers and fighters – 25 years in all. I want the folks and Vets to know I served my country proudly and would do it all again if I could.
In the 50s, I wrote a song, “Words, tune and notes”, with the help of the R.C.A. Music Studios in Ft. Worth, TX. I had my own band, “Melody Rock-a-Billy” men. A five-piece acoustic with myself on drums and guitar, Kenneth on lead guitar, Matt on up-right bass, Pops on country fiddle and Gene on rhythm guitar and lead singer. I paid for it to be recorded on a 78-vinyl record and sent it to Sun Records in Nashville, TN. Their stable of upcoming recording stars at the time was Elvis, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash Dean Martin and others. They sent my record back saying “Can’t use you or your song”. A let-down, but I kept my band intact, playing all the roadhouses honky-tonks, stockyard bars and dance halls, and so on. My men and I opened shows for Hank Thompson and The Brazo Valley Boys, Ray Price and Cherokee Cowboys, Red Foley’s Trio. I got to drum for Ray Price as his drummer. Didn’t make it but me and my men were still there behind the stage…what an honor for me. Never received a penny or monetary for my recording, but one of Sun Recorders’ singers, Dean Martin, recorded it and it was his first hit record. I called Sun Recorders and asking where about my Royality for my song you had Dean record and their response was, “You didn’t have it notarized, legalized or anything, so it belongs to Sun.” Couldn’t pursue it as I was stationed in an all-desert AB in Northen part of Africa.
In closing, I want old cousin Jimmy to go to his grave letting all my family, here and elsewhere, know that they were loved by me with all my heart and that’s the way it has been since I’ve been old enough to know what love was and is. Sweet good-byes and rock-solid love.
