Troy Malone Stallones

GEDCOM Note

{geni:occupation} Attorney Entrepreneur, Attorney, Entrepreneur.

Some Family Stories

Troy Stallones’ notes for Leighton Stallones

Stories told to me by my Daddy; things W.W. Stallings told him.

Prison Story:

&ltbr&gtW.W. made a deal with a fellow prisoner that the next hunk of meat that fell into the bowl of the other guy, it was to belong to W.W.. When a lump fell, the guy grabbed it and swallowed it. W.W. told Daddy that he grabbedthe guy and punched out his eyeball with his thumb.

East Texas land story:

&ltbr&gtW.W. amassed a lot of acres in east Texas. He traded 100 acres to a man for a pony. The man couldn’t read, so W.W. said he deeded the damn fool and extra 100 acres. There went my and your land.

Houston Texas story:

&ltbr&gtW.W. told Daddy that he hauled by wagon the first load of bricks to come into Houston. I decided these must have been pavers. I have one from a Houston street.

&ltbr&gtWhen W.W.’s son Jim was 8 years old they moved from Hot Springs to Texarkana. The family made the first trip together including some furniture. They sent Jim back by himself with the wagon to get the rest.

&ltbr&gtJim was only about 2 years older than Daddy. They were at a carnival in Hot Springs and an operator of a ball tossing stand presented his pitch by saying, “Lay down a dime and pick up a watch.", of course only if you won. Jimlaid down a dime and picked up a watch and walked off. The carnival guy got a constable after Jim. Jim told the constable that he accepted the offer made to him. Daddy was there and said the officer agreed that it was an acceptance of an offer. Jim kept the watch.

&ltbr&gtUncle Jim told me the story of how he and my daddy went from Hot Springs to Arizona. Jim was married and he and his wife were starting a trip in a wagon to Arizona. They went by Bat’s house and Daddy asked where they were going. He was 13 years old. When told, he asked to go along. Jim told him he could go if his father said it was OK. Bat said he didn’t care. Jim said Daddy had a worn out shirt on. Jim stopped at the next town and bought a new shirt.A time later Daddy and Whittle came back to Texas in a Model T. I don’t know how or when Whittle got out there. There were no paved roads until 10 miles west of El Paso. They went through the desert sand following Indian trails. When they got off the trail, they had to let air out of the tires, drive back to the trail, and air up the tires with a hand pump. How they got a Model T I don’t know.

&ltbr&gtYour (Leighton Stallones’) daddy’s mother came here to Tomball by wagon. I don’t know which sons were along. She lived some time in the old Michel house on our home place. I came out one day from Houston and spent the night with her. I was 5 years old. She was nice to me.

&ltbr&gtLater they came from Hot Springs again to Tomball in a Ford truck. Clyde Buck was their neighbor in Hot Springs and asked were they were going. When told he crawled on and came with them and lived the rest of his life here.Sorry I don’t know the timing on any of this. (This is stroke writing.)

&ltbr&gtIke was a natural mechanic. He and Bill had an old Model T in which Ike installed a Chevy gear shift. It had no brakes. One day Bill and I were in it on 149. He needed to stop, so he ran into the ditch.

&ltbr&gtUncle Jim later in life worked for the Carnation Creamery in Houstln until his retirement.

&ltbr&gtWhen I was about 5, Bat got sick and we went to visit. I got sick the day we saw him. I never saw my other grandfather or either of my grandmothers. RL said he stayed a night with Bat and Bat spit all over the floor.

&ltbr&gtDaddy always called me Dederick. His school teacher was Dederick Murray. When Daddy finished the fifth grade, that was as high as the school went. Murry offered to loan him $450.00 to go to Teacher’s College if Bat would signthe note, or to sign the note if Bat loaned the money. Bat wouldn’t do either. Daddy never forgave Bat. Audria Faye and I always have said that was why our Daddy was always so good to us.

&ltbr&gtDaddy gave Ike a Model A Ford pickup. It was sitting in our driveway one day and Daddy needed to go somewhere. He went in Ike’s truck. When he returned , Ike met him and fussed him out good for using his pickup without permission.

&ltbr&gtWe had no electricity at our place for years. Ike and Daddy obtained a light plant and stored electricity in batteries. It was run by a jacked up Model T car driving a belt from a back wheel with no tire on the rim. Later we got electricity brought from the crossroads. It cost $1000.00 in the depression.

&ltbr&gtDaddy and Uncle Jim had different stories about W.W. coming to Texas and changing his name.
I would rather trust Daddy’s story. He said W.W. went back to Georgia after prison, went by his home at night, saw somebody like carpetbaggers running the place, didn’t talk to anyone and left.

&ltbr&gtUncle Jim said he saw an ex-slave in charge, killed him and left.

&ltbr&gtDaddy knew W.W. well for quite awhile. He told me lots of stories about him. I remember only these.

&ltbr&gtNote: Ike and his brothers called my Daddy “Uncle Bud”. He was older than and they respected him.

&ltbr&gtSince I’ve told you about one of your grandfathers, let me tell you of your other. Bill, Jake, and I had a grain storage facility in Singleton, where your grandparents lived. We got to be close friends to them.
Mr. Bishop watched our facility for us. We paid him monthly. He was one of the nicest men I have ever known. Quite a contrast to my reports about Bat.

&ltbr&gtWhen Ike and Mildred were first married they took me to Houston to a Wild West Show. I was yet a boy. I think I remember that the performer was one of the famous old heroes of the West. Possibly Wild Bill Hickock. Vague.

Uncle Leston’s story:

&ltbr&gtA few years before he died he told me that he had left home at 13 years of age and had a rough time making a living. After 1 year he went to Hot Springs and ran into Bat on the street. He asked Bat how he was doing and Bat said things were going bad. Leston told him that was the reason he had left home, because things were bad. Bat flared up, pulled a big roll of paper bills from his pocket and said, “If you think I’m doing bad, look at these.” My son, Tod, was listening to this story. He was 13 At the time. I asked him where he would go if he left home. He said he would go to Granny’s house. Daddy and Leston both left home at 13. Bat told Daddy that in Arkansas you had your living half made. You had plenty of wood and water.

&ltbr&gtIke lived with us in Houston on West 25th Street. The house we lived in was rented to us by Mr. Wilson. He had several of these houses and his house was on 25th and Shepherd. He had a daughter named Evelyn. She later becameA.J. Foyt’s mother. Daddy had a Ford rumble seat coupe. Ike had a date with Evelyn in the Ford. When Ike came home, Mother asked Ike how the date was. He said it would have been good, but Evelyn’s mother went along in the rumble seat.

&ltbr&gtTullus and Ike slept there in a screened room with curtains for windows. Daddy got mad at Tullus when he wouldn’t get up, so he took the water hose and squirted through the screen.

&ltbr&gtAt Easter Mother got me a chocolate Easter bunny. I was so proud of it until Tullus picked it up and bit the ears off. I never forgave him.

&ltbr&gtDuring the time we lived on 25th Street I went to kindergarten close by. The first day the teacher asked us what our daddies did. One boy said his dad delivered ice in the daytime and whisky at night. Prohibition. All the deliveries of milk and ice came by wagons with teams. The driver would bring from the wagon enough for two houses and cut across to the next house. He would call out to the team and they would move up. The ice wagon drivers split the ice frlm large chunks with ice picks. He would give us kids the slivers of ice. We would all be following him down the street. Sometimes a load of bananas would come down the street.

&ltbr&gtThe Downtown street car started at 20th Street and went down Heights Boulevard on to Downtown. 25th Street was about the North limit of Houston. West on 25th was open land.

&ltbr&gtIke and I were always very close friends. When I was in high school I bought a Model T pickup for $15.00. Ike had one about the same year model. Mine had balloon tires. His had thin tires, so we traded tires. Then we were always swapping or buying from each other. Whenever he priced me something, I would take his first offer. That would always make him say, “ I should have asked for more.”

&ltbr&gtIke came to Sunday dinner at our house after he was in his 60s. He told me that after he turned 60, his brain had shrunk. I told him that there was nothing to shrink from.

&ltbr&gtHal went in a hospital and on coming out, told me he had been out of his head at times whle there. I asked him how anyone could tell.

&ltbr&gtI had good uncles, though they were barely tame.

Stories about the Wrights:

&ltbr&gtWhen I was about 11 years old our family and Loy’s family went to John Wright’s home in Oklahoma to see his mother. She was Daddy’s grandmother. She had been raised on a plantation in the old South. After the Civil War when she was a teen her family moved by wagon to Arizona.

&ltbr&gtShe got all us children together and talked to us. She told us that the thing she wanted us to remember was that her ride on a bus to Oklahoma was so much better than the wagon ride to Arizona.

&ltbr&gtDaddy told stories of John Wright to me. One was about John riding his horse through a tent revival at night, shooting out the lanterns. The sheriff caught him the next day and was leading him Main Street to let everyone know he had caught John when John leaned over and pushed the bridle off leaving the sheriff with the bridle. He was one of the good kids.

Another John Wright Story:

&ltbr&gtJohn and two friends planned and ambush of an Indian. They were in an abandoned house waiting When the Indian came by on his horse, they shot at him and he shot back with a rifle. When it was over every shot the Indian fired was counted in the door frame of the building.

&ltbr&gtClaude Wright was the youngest of the Wrights. He was Daddy’s hero. When he hunted deer he didn’t aim in the regular way. He raised the gun waist high, pointed and shot. Daddy asked how he did it. Claude said you can point your finger at him. Just point the gun the same way.

&ltbr&gtThese stories are not relevant to all Stallones, but they are part of the lore.

Perspective:

&ltbr&gtWe have a picture here of Earleen’s mother, Earleen, our daughter, Melissa, and her daughter, Cathleen. Four generations, contemporaries.

&ltbr&gtWilliam Stallings, Bat, Ike , you.

&ltbr&gtShorter than we realize.

&ltbr&gt