Posts
The turn of the century decade began one of transition and progress and is considered the first decade of materialism and consumerism. The Industrial age was in full swing, mass production made prices fall to all time lows. Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward catalogs were read more than any book other than the Bible.
Leisure time activities during the first decade of the twentieth century were spent at family get-togethers, baseball games, picnics, playing ping pong, long Sunday drives in the horse and carriage (or the new family car). In the evenings families gathered around the piano for a sing-along. The family was at the center of everything.
The following excerpts from an article in the Atlanta Constitution, dated 29 April 1909, gives an insight into the social life during this time. Notes that Mrs. Jack Hayes (our Annie), was one of the organizers of this Festival.
May Day Festival at Snap Bean Farm
West End Ladies to Hold Festival Saturday to Benefit Memorial Fund
One of the largest and most brilliant May day festivals ever attempted in Atlanta has been planned for Saturday afternoon, May 1, at the Sign of the Wren's Nest. The undertaking is that of the ladies of West End for the Uncle Remus Memorial Fund, a movement which is especially dear to their hearts, and the program they intend to carry out will be in keeping both with the spirit of May Day and the spirit of the Snap Bean Farm.
The festival will take place on the wide meadow at the farm, and nearly two hundred children will take part in the exercises attendant upon the crowning of the May queen at the Maypole dance.
An orchestra which will be in attendance throughout the entertainment will play bright dance music and three groups of children, including the knights and ladies, each around a pole of bright-colored ribbons will dance the Maypole dance.
Afterwards, the participants and the spectators will scatter over the meadow for a general good time and refreshments will be served from picturesque booths, each of which will represent some famous story by Uncle Remus.
Uncle Remus Stories
At a rustic booth, all in green, "Miss Meadows and the Gals" will have ice cream and cake for sale. Miss Ruth Rossner is manager of a grab bag feature and the committee of arrangements includes: Mrs. Brevard Montgomery, chairman assisted by Mrs. J. W. MacEachern, Mrs. B.
F. Collier, Mrs. W. M. Jenkins, Mrs. Muse, Mrs. Jack Hayes, Miss Fannie Simpson.
The program will begin promptly at 4 o'clock and admission to the grounds will be 10 cents for everybody.
West End has entered with universal enthusiasm into the preparation of the festival and a general patronage is urged for what will be an ideally beautiful occasion.
Visitors in the city and admirers of the work of Uncle Remus are especially invited to the Snap Bean Farm, under typical circumstances, when it is overrun with children.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
A Daughter's Memories of Jack and Annie
Memories of Our Mother and Dad Hayes
by Anne Hayes Meese (Jack and Annie's eldest child)
Ours was the kind of growing up that all children surely dream about. Surely as a family we had our ups and downs, but that is life, and of course I can only speak for myself. But as parents, Mother and Dad gave me something special, and somehow I always knew what a lucky gal I was.
Dad was tall, handsome, unusually bright and always good company - but a rascal at heart. He was one of the four boys who survived in that family and though none of them had much education, they were smart and eager to get ahead. Dad used to entertain me for hours telling me about the tricks the brothers used to play on each other and about his exciting experiences when he lied about his age and at sixteen fought in the war in the far east. He was what he called a first gunner and he was always proud of the fact that he was a crack shot. He got into a
typhoon in the China Sea and loved telling about being chased across the rice paddies by the opposing forces. As a child, I drank it all in and must have been the perfect audience for his wild tales - real or make believe.
He loved to hunt and fish, played a great game of poker. He was a gambler at heart and played the market when he could. I will never in my life forget the tension in our home when he got a corner on the wheat market. The phone rang day and night and we all talked in hushed tones, not having the slightest idea of what worried Dad so.
But, he was always sweet and thoughtful to us and certainly to Mother, was superintendent of the Sunday School at one time, potentate in the Shriners, on the team that did all the dynamiting when Atlanta had a terrible fire so many years ago. I can remember seeing Mother sitting at the window so terribly worried about him - and he was no doubt having the time of his life!
Mother, on the other hand, was quiet, gentle, not very out-spoken about things, but ran our family and the house as a smooth operation. She was president of the big Ladies Sunday School class at St. Mark, always volunteering on worthwhile neighborhood projects, was wise in her counsel to us children and always understanding. The front bedroom became a center where all my crowd gathered and learned to dance, the family dining room table became a ping-pong table on rainy days and she adored family games. Pick-up-sticks, dominoes, etc. were always available, and later on we had a full-sized badminton court and portable ping-pong outdoor table for the back yard, where all the young people gathered on Saturdays for tournaments.
We never seemed to own our own home for years after leaving the apartment in West End, but years later, when I was about nine, we moved into a beautiful big, red brick house and life became almost glamorous to me as a young girl. We had a cook in the kitchen and she and her husband lived in the apartment over the two car garage. That was during the first World War and by that time Dad had a flourishing men's tore in downtown Atlanta and a big store out at Camp Gordon, the military base just outside Atlanta. Obviously he was doing great and our family lifestyle reflected it.
The Metropolitan Opera then came to Atlanta for the first week in May and what a joy and exciting time that was. Mother and Dad, dressed to the nines, would be driven to the opera (box seats I want you to know) by our cook's husband in proper chauffeur attire, and when Dad was too busy to get away for the matinees I was allowed to go with Mother. I think my love of
good music is partly because of that.
We had great big rooms in that house and I can still remember the excitement when our folks sent out invitations for a dance. All the rugs were rolled up, furniture moved, etc. and I can still remember the sheer excitement of sitting at the top of the stairs and almost feeling like a part of the beautifully dressed people below - having the time of their lives dancing to a record player in the music room. Mother and Dad dearly loved to dance and watching them twirl around the floor, Mother in a beautiful long dress, was pure magic. I was allowed to sit at the top of the stairs and see it all through the banisters - only if I kept quiet as a mouse.
I could go on and on, about our move to Florida, Dad losing practically everything he had when the depression hit. But somehow life went on in our big family and I'm sure that in looking back,
none of us would have had it any different We loved growing up together and it was a very special time in our lives.
by Anne Hayes Meese (Jack and Annie's eldest child)
Ours was the kind of growing up that all children surely dream about. Surely as a family we had our ups and downs, but that is life, and of course I can only speak for myself. But as parents, Mother and Dad gave me something special, and somehow I always knew what a lucky gal I was.
Dad was tall, handsome, unusually bright and always good company - but a rascal at heart. He was one of the four boys who survived in that family and though none of them had much education, they were smart and eager to get ahead. Dad used to entertain me for hours telling me about the tricks the brothers used to play on each other and about his exciting experiences when he lied about his age and at sixteen fought in the war in the far east. He was what he called a first gunner and he was always proud of the fact that he was a crack shot. He got into a
typhoon in the China Sea and loved telling about being chased across the rice paddies by the opposing forces. As a child, I drank it all in and must have been the perfect audience for his wild tales - real or make believe.
He loved to hunt and fish, played a great game of poker. He was a gambler at heart and played the market when he could. I will never in my life forget the tension in our home when he got a corner on the wheat market. The phone rang day and night and we all talked in hushed tones, not having the slightest idea of what worried Dad so.
But, he was always sweet and thoughtful to us and certainly to Mother, was superintendent of the Sunday School at one time, potentate in the Shriners, on the team that did all the dynamiting when Atlanta had a terrible fire so many years ago. I can remember seeing Mother sitting at the window so terribly worried about him - and he was no doubt having the time of his life!
Mother, on the other hand, was quiet, gentle, not very out-spoken about things, but ran our family and the house as a smooth operation. She was president of the big Ladies Sunday School class at St. Mark, always volunteering on worthwhile neighborhood projects, was wise in her counsel to us children and always understanding. The front bedroom became a center where all my crowd gathered and learned to dance, the family dining room table became a ping-pong table on rainy days and she adored family games. Pick-up-sticks, dominoes, etc. were always available, and later on we had a full-sized badminton court and portable ping-pong outdoor table for the back yard, where all the young people gathered on Saturdays for tournaments.
We never seemed to own our own home for years after leaving the apartment in West End, but years later, when I was about nine, we moved into a beautiful big, red brick house and life became almost glamorous to me as a young girl. We had a cook in the kitchen and she and her husband lived in the apartment over the two car garage. That was during the first World War and by that time Dad had a flourishing men's tore in downtown Atlanta and a big store out at Camp Gordon, the military base just outside Atlanta. Obviously he was doing great and our family lifestyle reflected it.
The Metropolitan Opera then came to Atlanta for the first week in May and what a joy and exciting time that was. Mother and Dad, dressed to the nines, would be driven to the opera (box seats I want you to know) by our cook's husband in proper chauffeur attire, and when Dad was too busy to get away for the matinees I was allowed to go with Mother. I think my love of
good music is partly because of that.
We had great big rooms in that house and I can still remember the excitement when our folks sent out invitations for a dance. All the rugs were rolled up, furniture moved, etc. and I can still remember the sheer excitement of sitting at the top of the stairs and almost feeling like a part of the beautifully dressed people below - having the time of their lives dancing to a record player in the music room. Mother and Dad dearly loved to dance and watching them twirl around the floor, Mother in a beautiful long dress, was pure magic. I was allowed to sit at the top of the stairs and see it all through the banisters - only if I kept quiet as a mouse.
I could go on and on, about our move to Florida, Dad losing practically everything he had when the depression hit. But somehow life went on in our big family and I'm sure that in looking back,
none of us would have had it any different We loved growing up together and it was a very special time in our lives.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Pictures of Jack and Annie
Annie and Jack all dressed up for a night out. 
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Jack Dabney Hayes
Much has been professionally researched and documented on some of the earlier Hays/Hayes family most notably The Genealogy of the Hays Family from 1730 to 1982 by Annie Holtzclaw-Loyd and Carlos Val Smith published in 1983.
This blog will start with our Jack Dabney Hayes, Sr., born 30 Aug 1882 in Newton County, Georgia who was one of 10 children of George Martin Hays (Hayes) and Ann Jane "Janie" Dabney. Jack's spouse was Annie Pendleton Muse who was born 09 May 1886 in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia. Jack and Annie had 5 children between 1910 and 1923; Anne, Jack, Jr., Francina (Dena), George and Randy.
Annie was 21 and Jack was 25 when they were married. Annie describes Jack: "Has a very strong will and determination. Tall and broad-shouldered, light hair, blue eyes and high forehead." She describes herself as "small, light hair, violet blue eyes with a pink complexion and blushes painfully on all occasions."
From The Atlanta Constitution dated 11 June 1907 comes this notice of their wedding: The marriage of Miss Annie Muse and Mr. Jack Hayes takes place at 2 o'clock the afternoon of June 18th. The ceremony will be performed by Rev. M. L. Troutman at the Park Street Methodist Church. Miss Mary Singleton will play the wedding march; Miss Helen Muse will be the maid of honor; and the bridesmaids, Misses Alma Pace, Georgia Mae Taylor, the ribbon bearers, Misses Allie May Osborn, Edyth Cofield, Margaret Berry, Lucile Roan, Bee Nelms and Carrie Sassnet. Master John Simpson will be ring bearer. Mr. W. Brown Hayes will be best man. The decorative scheme at the church and at the house will be pink and white. The bride will wear her going-away gown of dark blue voile with hat to match.
This blog will start with our Jack Dabney Hayes, Sr., born 30 Aug 1882 in Newton County, Georgia who was one of 10 children of George Martin Hays (Hayes) and Ann Jane "Janie" Dabney. Jack's spouse was Annie Pendleton Muse who was born 09 May 1886 in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia. Jack and Annie had 5 children between 1910 and 1923; Anne, Jack, Jr., Francina (Dena), George and Randy.
Annie was 21 and Jack was 25 when they were married. Annie describes Jack: "Has a very strong will and determination. Tall and broad-shouldered, light hair, blue eyes and high forehead." She describes herself as "small, light hair, violet blue eyes with a pink complexion and blushes painfully on all occasions."
From The Atlanta Constitution dated 11 June 1907 comes this notice of their wedding: The marriage of Miss Annie Muse and Mr. Jack Hayes takes place at 2 o'clock the afternoon of June 18th. The ceremony will be performed by Rev. M. L. Troutman at the Park Street Methodist Church. Miss Mary Singleton will play the wedding march; Miss Helen Muse will be the maid of honor; and the bridesmaids, Misses Alma Pace, Georgia Mae Taylor, the ribbon bearers, Misses Allie May Osborn, Edyth Cofield, Margaret Berry, Lucile Roan, Bee Nelms and Carrie Sassnet. Master John Simpson will be ring bearer. Mr. W. Brown Hayes will be best man. The decorative scheme at the church and at the house will be pink and white. The bride will wear her going-away gown of dark blue voile with hat to match.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)