little tobacco sack in which he usually carried his money, and having
counted the amount needed, handed it to the man. I suppose they must
have all been his friends, for as someone has said, if a fellow jokes
with you, you can be sure he is your friend.
Grandpa's attitude towards money may be seen in his actions in
two instances. The first case involves a farm not far from Concord,
N.C. I think it must have been in Cabarrus County, since, as I recall
the case was heard in the court at Concord. I believe the case came up
after I came to live with him. In any event, a distant cousin of
Grandpa's who this farm, came to see him when she got too old to
look after it herself, and told him she would leave him the farm it he
would give her a home as long as she lived. He told her to come on.
She appealed to him after some closer cousins had declined to keep
her. Grandpa found a good man to operate the farm, and as I recall
Grandpa was getting several bales of cotton in place on money for the
rent on the place. As I recall it was worth some $500.00 to $600.00
each year before taxes which were not vert high then. The other
cousins, who were women, then took Grandpa to court, claiming that
he had used undue pressure on the old lady in having her make her
will in favor of him. Grandpa did have a lawyer in court with him.
However as it happens when it comes down to a man's or woman's word
in court - the juries usually rule in favor of the women, so the jury
ruled in favor of the cousins - who had not tuned their hands to help
her (their kinswoman) when she was in need, -- I suppose because
they were women and because they were closer kin to the old lady
than Grandpa. He did not seem to be as much concerned about the
loss of the farm as he did about the fact that the cousins tried to prove,
or implied that he had not told the truth. I do not recall that he ever
spoke of he loss after he came back from court and told us what had
happened.
(Let me insert an item here before I before it. Grandpa would
not sign a note for anyone, even his on children. If one needed the
money and he had it, he would give it to them. He is supposed to have
made this resolve after one of his kinsmen failed to pay his note which
Grandpa had signed. This was a sizable amount in that day).
The second incident involved the sale of his place at Hopewell. This was known as the "Davis" place. I think Grandpa traded the old home place to Uncle Nick Gibbon for the Hopewell place. The old home was near Uncle Nick's place. It must now be in Charlotte (l965) or just on the outskirts. It (the Davis home was a big sturdy house built by slaves. The first floor sills are of solid oak 2 ft. square - not sawed but hewed with an adz.