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William G. DeLoach
Verdie Vinson Gann
The John Milam Family
Earl & Mary Finley
Joe Bailey Foster
Theophil Leonardt
Sudan Mascot Change

William G. DeLoach was born in 1880 in Ellenville, Georgia, the eldest son of Emmanuel and Elizabeth DeLoach, former plantation owners. In 1887, the family moved to Parker County, Texas. Will grew up there, attending a one-room schoolhouse for three or four months of the year for seven years. In 1898 he struck out on his own to the plains of Texas. He got a job working cattle and mending fences on the Two Buckle Ranch in Crosby County. By 1909, Will was back with his family in Old Greer County, Oklahoma where his father had filed on one hundred sixty acres of land.

In Oklahoma, Will met a Mr. Newton who hired him to work his lands on the halves. He met Newton’s niece, Sallie, during this time. They were married on January 14, 1903. The newly weds lived in Acme, Texas where Will worked in the brick factory. Will got a job in the coalmines at Thurber so the family moved there. Due to the Labor Day strike of 1903, he had to wait until it was settled before he could begin work. In 1908, Will and Sallie moved back to Oklahoma to farm and operate a shoe store.

In March of 1913, tragedy struck Sallie and Will’s four-year-old daughter, Mildred. She burned to death after igniting her clothes with matches she had found. Due to this accident and summer drought, Will decided to make the move to West Texas. By then, three other children had been added to the family. Harold was born in 1904, Robert “Bud” in 1906, and Dorothy in 1920. In September of 1913, the DeLoach family loaded their possessions in a covered wagon and headed for Emma in Crosby County, Texas. Their third daughter, Jimmie, was born on Christmas Eve, 1913. A brother-in-law rented Will a farm three miles south of Ralls, which was north of Emma. Will planted mostly grain sorghum to feed the livestock, which was considered the main source of income.

Will DeLoach was 34 years old when he started writing his thoughts in a left over ledger book from the shoe store. It was after a good rain on Saturday, March 28, 1914 that led to fifty years on entries that filled more than nine ledger books. He frequently wrote about the extremely high winds that would sweep across the arid land covering everything with dirt. He also wrote about the scorching temperatures or the blizzards that would freeze man and animal alike. Will recorded the sale or trade of livestock, crops, and eggs. In 1914, he was offered five cents per pound for his cotton, but finally received six cents a pound for his three bales of cotton. He also bought grassland that he broke up for cultivation several times from 1914 through 1929. In fact, he often made more money selling land than he did from selling his crops.

 

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