The Little House On The Farm

By Clementine Blackman Troublefield

The little house on the farm was located in the Southern Part of North Carolina. It was surrounded by fields and woods. This was the playground for the four little Rayner Blackman girls. Especially in the spring and summer, they loved playing in the fields and woods. Life was innocent and care free to them. Sometimes the girls and their brother would get in trouble and their parents had to punish them. They learned their lesson from it. There was a special bond they had as a family, and with their relatives and friends. How they dealt with sickness and death of their loved one. The family had faith and love in Jesus Christ, and that faith was tested when their Mother and Sister's lives were in jeopardy. The family had many many blessings in The Little House on the Farm.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 13, 2018
• ISBN: 9781641384872

Book preview

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The Little House On The Farm

Clementine Blackman Troublefield

Copyright © 2018 Clementine Blackman Troublefield

All rights reserved

First Edition

Page Publishing, Inc

New York, NY

First originally published by Page Publishing, Inc 2018

ISBN 978-1-64138-486-5 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64138-487-2 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Dedication

To my grandmother Lonie Dianne Chestnutt Rayner, you were one of God’s greatest gifts to your grandchildren. We did not see or touch your beautiful face or hear your loving voice, but you will always live in our hearts.

To my parents William Henry and Lois Rayner Blackman, you taught your children that we are a family, and family are always there for one another. And it’s not where you started but where you finished.

To my sister Bernadine Blackman Troublefield, you left us way too soon.

To my brother William Henry Jr. Blackman (Romeo), you completed the family.

Love you always.

Acknowledgments

To my grandfather John B. Rayner, the Rayner Blackman children loved and thank our grandfather for the little house on the farm. He was a very special person in our lives, and we are grateful to God for the times we shared.

My aunt Genita Dianne Rayner Moore, for encouraging me to continue writing my stories.

My son Edward Troublefield, for looking on the Internet and found some of the information that I needed.

My sister Linda Blackman Nobles for my do you remember this or that when we lived in the little house on the farm.

My husband Herman Troublefield for helping me find words in the dictionary that I could not spell out.

Part 1

The Little House on the Farm

On June 1, 1941, William Henry Blackman and Lois Rayner made plans to elope. They asked the mailman to take them to Clinton.

There they met dad’s sister and her husband, and he drove them to South Carolina to the courthouse to get married.

They were married by Judge Bessie McLean.

After living with his sister and her husband for a few months, they decided it was time to be on their own, so they started looking for their own place to live.

But they did not have to look very far. Granddaddy told them he had a place for them to live, and there was a house and enough land for them to farm and make a good living. And when they arrived at their first home and walked inside of it, they saw it had four empty rooms, except the kitchen.

Granddaddy had bought them a brand-new cookstove. They did not have much, but Mom made it a home.

That was the beginning of the little house on the farm.

And Mom was so happy to be near her family.

After their first crops were harvested and sold, Mom bought new linoleums for the floors, pots, pans, and dishes for her kitchen.

Mom was excited to have brand-new things for her home.

Dad bought a set of mule, a plow, and a wagon.

Dad had been using granddaddy’s mules and plow at that time.

He also bought himself two pair of overalls, a pair of brogues shoes, and a farmer hat, and dad was very happy to.

Now the family began to grow; my siblings and I were born.

Eugene (July 1942), Clementine (January 1944) Bernadine (March 1946), Lonie (March 1948), Linda (May 1950), EJ (June 1952), Romeo (February 1955). Uncle Walter and Aunt Lillie Mea Rayner lived next door to us. Their family grew also. They were liked our second family. Luby and Katie Fryar, Uncle Willie Raynor’s daughter and son-in-law were our neighbors too.

Sunday

Sunday morning Mom would pray and let us read the Bible.

We took turns; only one child reads on Sundays.

The family had one Bible to read from, and it was very precious to the family. Mom wrote the date she and Dad were married and their children’s birth dates in it.

After breakfast, it was time to get ready for Sunday school.

Mom made sure we had plenty of dresses, socks to wear, and ribbons for our hair; and she also made sure our shoes were polished. If she had it to give, she gave each one of us a penny for Sunday school.

Sunday was also time for church; if we did not go to Sunday school, we went to church with our mom and dad.

Mom had four little girls and three boys to get ready for church.

Most of the times we walked and arrive on time.

There was no rush for church to start or turn out; most Sundays we stayed all day.

Some of the mothers of the church would bring food baskets. And after the morning service, they would set up tables that the church had outside to put the food on, and everyone came out to eat.

After everyone finished eating and the children had time to play, it was time for church to start again and turned out before it got dark so everyone could get home safe.

Monday

Mom washed every Monday—sunshine, rain, are snow. It was our job to bring the clothes in from the clotheslines and put them away.

Mom believed in keeping our mind and body in good health.

On some cold winter morning when we did not go to school, Mom would call us to the kitchen and say, I have something for you.

On the store would be a big bottle of castor oil; we all line up to take it. Mom said Clementine first. I said to myself why could not I been born last. However, looking back on this, the Rayner Blackman girls did not have very bad cold, flu, pneumonia, or bronchitis.

Mom gave some to our brothers too; she did not want them to feel left out.

Monday through Friday

The Rayner Blackman children went to Brown school.

It was a two-room school, and we had to walk through the woods to get to the school.

There were no school buses for black students to ride to school on. The teachers were Mrs. Allie Maths and Ms. Eva Sampson. And the students did not get new textbooks; we had to use textbooks that the white students use in their school, and their names were written inside the textbooks.

When we brought the textbooks home, Mom cleaned them up the best she could and told us it was not important whose name was written inside the textbooks; it was important that we learned what was in the textbooks. We carry our lunches to school; sometimes we each had two