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Tales from Old Blanton
Well, the best tales from
old Blanton are "Tales from Aunt Julia" written by Julia
Dowling and published with the assistance of Carolyn Dowling Falls.
This wonderful booklet, which gives a colorful picture of pioneer life in
Blanton, can be purchased in the Pioneer Museum in Dade City.
We'll add a few family
stories below for your amusement, amazement and edification.
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Blanton
Public Wash Place
from the notes of Cassie Dowling
The branch at the Northeast corner of the school yard was chosen by the
Blanton folks to be a wash place. Today, you will find this branch just beyond the Tangelo Apartments on Sweetwater Road.
When the Duttons arrived, they brought a large, straight pot (to boil in) and six tubs made from heavy turpentine barrels. These were cut thru the middle with handles on each side.
This may sound like crude equipment, but to the Blanton folks, it was quite a treat. Two other small pots were set up and several zinc tubs came and went. Most folks would gather their dry clothes and two people would carry them home in a zinc tub.
Because so many people were using this place, they took turns. Mrs. Dutton, by mutual agreement, had her choice, then everyone washed. This often took all day. Even men or children would help to fill vessels with water.
To have the water clear and easy to pick up, a sluice was made with the
inventiveness of Elmer Branch and Mrs. Paige.
Clothes were given a sweat rinse, put into a rubbing tub and rubbed on a crinkly board called a wash board. They were then dropped into a pot of water and brought to a boil. The clothes were then punched for sometime while they were boiling. It usually took one person to rub and one to tend the fire and punch. Often they took turns.
After boiling, the clothes were rinsed through three tubs of clear water and hung on nearby community lines which were made by fastening wire to nearby trees to dry.
This sounds like a hard chore, but it was often made lighter by visiting with neighbors who also came to wash.
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Photo and Stories
contributed by Lora and Gene Blocker
Blanton hunters: L
to R : L. B.
Bessenger, Fred O'Berry and Leon O'Berry
John O'Berry has
seen a bunch of turkey's up the road at Chipco and announced that the next
morning he was going up there to get one for dinner and put shells in his
shotgun to be ready. During the night, his son Fred took the shells out of
the gun and said nothing. The next morning bright and early John grabbed his
gun and went up to hunt the turkeys. Imagine after all the stalking and
taking careful aim the gun did not shoot and finding there were no shells in
it.
Grandpa O'Berry had a cow that kept getting in his yard so he kept a
shotgun loaded with salt to shot and sting the cow so it would leave the
yard. One night Fred put buckshot in the shells and the next time the cow
was in the yard Grandpa shot it to make it leave, but it fell dead instead.
Gene's Dad remembers going to supper up at Grandpa's and eating the cow and
biting into a buckshot when he ate the meat.
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Lillian Bessenger Hines' Stories
(published in Dade City Banner Dec 12, 1968)
"I will try to tell you about the turpentine industry
in Pasco county and South Florida which my father operated. He came to
Blanton in 1900 and bought out the turpentine business there and moved the
family and about 20 negro families down there, building a house for us and
se up quarters for his help. There were only three or four houses in Blanton
when we moved there. After the saw mill was built, there were at least 25
families to come in make a community. There was not an active church near
than Trilby or Townsend.
And so the people met in homes for Sunday School. Mother led the Baptist
group. The other group was Methodist. My father gave he lumber and helped
build the church in Blanton. Mother made a survey and found there were more
Methodists there, so she helped to get Christian people to all worship
together and she joined the Methodist church and raised us as Methodists. I
joined the church at age 7 and we enjoyed being a part of God's family in
Blanton. The school house was a old building east of the lake. The first
year was in the old building and we were all proud of the new two-story
school house that was built. There were about 50 shacks built southwest of
Blanton of colored people and a church for them.
New Store and Post Office
"A store was next, and since the post office was in the Granny Johnson house
she was post mistress. As Blanton grew, a new store was built and the post
office was moved to the store building with Sanford Blocker appointed post
master and Blanton a booming town. New a parsonage was built. The telephone
was put in about 1906 with the ..worths and Bessengers having a phone. The
next year the Millers had a phone put in. All the phones rang every time a
call came, but different rings or each, so my best fun was to listen to see
who was being called. My father put a "dummy " track on which operated a
narrow gauge railroad wood burner for many miles of the country around
Blanton to haul the logs to the saw mill after the turpentine industry was
out of existence. This "dummy " track was also enjoyed by the boys. On
Sunday evenings group would take he hand-cart and push it to the top of the
hill and all jump on and coast down for quite always."
Boys will be boys...
"This (cooper)shop was dangerous and a no-man's land for children. So on
Sunday afternoons we would slip down and look round s no work was done on
Sunday. With about 600 negro workers and 100 white, Sunday was the day of
rest. The still and saw mill were between he lake and the railroad, so the
depot hid us from a view of our house, so we felt safe."
"The rosin was put into the new barrels for shipment, but left open during
the weekend to harden and then tops put over the barrels. The boys dared my
oldest brother to see how hard the rosin was and one day he tried a barrel
and his entire hand went into the hot rosin and just cooked his hand. They
had to take him home, and the Sunday exploring ended then and there."
Life in Blanton
"Every railroad man, salesman, and doctor tried to make it to the Bessengers
about meal time. We never knew how many would eat at our table before the
day was over. Dad later built a large boarding house but the free meals at
Bessengers never stopped."
"There were no weather reports, only a weekly paper from Tampa, so the only
weather news was by the ACL telegraph at the depot. That became the
gathering place for the news. Many a deer hunt was planned by Berry Miller,
Charley Dowling and L.B. Bessenger on the depot steps. The only amusement in
the little sawmill town of Blanton was the croquet ground my dad made in the
center of the things. He put clay down and kept it rolled, built high stands
on the four sides up for the court and filled with sand and piled dross, on
each to burn for lights. The dross was the shaving from the pine trees as
they were cut with trenches for the tar to drip in and, run into the cups,
and was full of tar and pine needles and would burn and make a bright flame
to see by. At dark on Friday and Saturday nights, these were always full and
lighted for the public. There were many hours of croquet enjoyed by the
adults."
First Car in Blanton
"The children were put to bed at dark. The only road to travel was very
sandy and horse and wagons were the only transportation then. The first car
in Blanton was brought out by Mr. Sparkman to try to sell to my dad. He took
mother and dad for a ride and we children were scared pink until they
returned. They didn't buy the car and were we glad. My dad drove his rig 25
to 50 miles to attend to his business and would take the train in Dade City
to get to Jacksonville and Tampa real often. There were over 86,000 acres of
land in Pasco county and South Florida owned or leased by my father, L.B.
Bessenger, when I was about 12 years of age. We moved into Dade City in
1914. We children drove a horse and buggy into school before we sold our
house in Blanton to the ACL Railroad, for a section foreman house." |
