Tobe Kinsey is my great-great grandfather. Well, his name is actually Madison Monroe Kinsey, but he went by Tobe. He was my grandmother's grandfather and i can tell she adored him by the way she talked about him. She said he was a jokester and jovial man. He spent his years supervising teams of men clear cutting timber. He did this throughout Dunklin and Stoddard Counties in the Missouri Bootheel. He would buy the land, cut the timber and the resell the land for farming. After years of this kind of work. he decided to move to Campbell Missouri to retire. Tobe was in a position where he could enjoy the life and the amenities of the small community. He checked on His farm outside town and other timber removal jobs as needed. He frequently made trips to the farm with friends to hunt game in the adjacent forests and to fish in the St. Francis River. He actively participated in the local Democratic Party and ardently supported party candidates. He was a proud democrat and he let people around him know it. He had a large circle of friends and he spent his days fishing and enjoying family. He was also pretty progressive for a retiree. He bought his first car, a 1915 Maxwell. In 1915, Tobe bought one of the first automobiles in the area. In fact, he was featured in a local news piece in the Campbell Citizen:
“Tobe Kinsey smashed a wheel off his new Maxwell the other day trying to turn a sharp corner at high speed. Mr. Kinsey is one of our numerous north end progressive farmers who think an automobile is far above the horse and buggy, as the riding cultivators is above the old-time bull-tongue plow, and since he has lived in the “sticks” all his life, he is now entitled to the best on the market, to convey him over the hills to town, so he bought a Maxwell.”
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Sometime in 1941 extended members of my Kinsey ancestors gathered together in Campbell, Missouri. That should have been easy enough because they all lived in and around Campbell. From the look of the picture it could easily have been on Sunday by the way everyone was dressed. 1st row: Arthur and Ada Mitchell (Arthur is my Great Grandma Kinsey's younger brother with his wife), Vernon and Verna Jena Adams (Vernon is my Grandpa Adams younger brother holding his daughter), Geneva and Carl Adams (Geneva is my grandmother's first cousin and closest childhood friend. She is also married to Vernon and holding their son). Evelyn and Kathleen Kennedy (family friends), Lillian Mitchell Kinsey (my great grandmother), Roy Patrick on the far right standing (married to Maudie Kinsey, my grandmother's oldest sister).
On steps: 1st step: Marilyn Mitchell and Patsy Mitchell, 2nd step:Donna Lou Patrick and Velda Jean Irby, 3rd step: Reuben Arthur White, Gayrald Adams (my father), Dale Patrick, Ronald Adams (my uncle), and Billie White. Back row: Bill and Jewell Mitchell, Harlin and Mildred Adams (my grandparents), Maudie Patrick (my grandmother's oldest sister), Elizabeth and Reuben White, Bert Kinsey (my great grandfather) and Neal Patrick. My Grandmother, Mildred Kinsey, grew-up in Campbell, Missouri. She spent her teenage years during the early part of the Great Depression in the little town. Fortunately, her town was a stop along a major railroad line. That brought tourists and some job possibilities to town. It was 1934 and the peak of the Great Depression. The national employment was 21.7 percent with Missouri’s unemployment slightly higher. Jobs were scarce. Campbell had the fortunate circumstance of being a train stop along the major Cotton Belt line. It was one of fifteen stops between St. Louis and Dallas. During the 1930s the average speed for passenger trains was 40 miles per hour. Campbell was 230 miles from St. Louis along the rail line. Enter two dreamers, Louis McCutchen, Sr. and Daniel F. Pollock. In 1912, They envisioned the biggest, best hotel between St. Louis and Memphis. From this dream, the Pol-Mac Hotel emerged. Comparable to hotels in large cities, salesmen and others, so grateful to find excellent meals and service, comfortable rooms, and modern bathrooms, spread the word and the success of the new Pol-Mac was assured. A succession of competent managers kept this image intact for many years. Six passenger trains ran through Campbell daily. A porter from the Pol-Mac met each train with a big cart to convey the luggage. At one period, meeting the train was a Sunday event of many of the town "belles." Young ladies, dressed in their Sunday best, watched for a 'Beau Brummel', in the form of a dapper salesman, to step off the train. Later, these same young ladies were joined by a group of young men. They were always welcome in the parlor of the Pol-Mac, where they played the piano and sang the afternoon away. By 1920, The Pol-mac was the finest hotel on the Cotton Belt Line between St. Louis and Dallas. My Grandmother Mildred Kinsey graduated from high school and looked for a job. She found one at the Pol-Mac Hotel. In the beginning she washed dishes and then worked as waitress. The Pol-Mac had a great reputation fro service and was well-known for its fine meals. Here is the account from Mildred Kinsey: "It was the depression. All of our family worked hard. We were compelled to because those were difficult days and ours was large family to feed. We worked at whatever was available to us. The depression affected most all families at that time. There was very little money circulated, and therefore very few jobs for earning wages. Those times of working hard helped us develop our sense of responsibility and independence. During this time the passenger trains were still operating and frequently stopping in Campbell. I was working at the time as a waitress at the Pol-Mac Hotel. I made $4.00 to $6.00 a week, waiting tables and washing dishes. It was 1934 and I felt good to have any job because of the depression. I usually worked all day. I would go to work at lunchtime to serve and then I helped do the dishes. I would have a two hour break, and then I would return to serve dinner, do the dishes and then go home late in the evening. I made good money for the depression and I was happy to have the job. Fancy people would come in on the train and stay at the hotel. People came from all over. Since the hotel was across the street from the depot, I met many interesting people. One time I met Harry S. Truman and his campaign group when he was running for the Senate. He stopped and ate the hotel. During my conversation with him I had little thought that he could someday be President of the United States." "Another time I served and had a conversation with heavyweight boxing champ, Jess Willard. He was big man! I heard my dad say that he had seen him fight in the ring one time." Jess Willard was 6 foot 6 1/2 inches tall and was the tallest boxer until the late 20th century. He knocked out Jack johnson in April 1915 for the heavyweight title. He was known for his great strength and ability to absorb tremendous punishment, although he is mostly known for his title loss to Jack Dempsey. Willard held the championship for more than four years. Today his reign is considered the 11th longest in the heavyweight division. He lost the title to Jack Dempsey in 1919 in one of the most severe beatings ever in a championship bout. Mildred continued, "These well-off people would sometimes tip a dime, or maybe even a quarter. All of us girls would dump our tips on the table in the kitchen and then share them evenly."
Mildred continued to work at Pol-Mac through most of 1934 until she married Harlin Adams in 1934. The Pol-Mac Hotel discontinued operation in 1954. My Grandma, Mildred Kinsey Adams, was the 5th of 6th children in her family. By the late 1920s, her eldest brother, Oswald, moved back and forth between working in factories in Flint, Michigan and clearing timber for his grandfather in Dunklin County Missouri. The other children, Maudie, Marvin, Ada, Mildred and Iva Lee were attending school in Campbell. Each of them were about two years apart in school. The following is my grandmother’s story about their efforts to attend college: “Not many people graduated from school because they were needed on the farm. Even fewer went to college. A man came from Jonesboro from the teachers college [Arkansas State University] and talked to Mama and Papa about having Maudie go to school. Maudie was college age and wanted to go. Papa just shook his head and said, ‘We can't afford to send her.’ In fact, it was all a moot point because Maudie left school after her junior year to help Grandma Mitchell. Another man came from a private school called William Mayfield College in Marble Hill, Missouri. Will Mayfield College was operated by the St. Francois Baptist Association. It was Marvin’s turn and he wanted to go to college. The recruiter said he would take produce and other goods for fees. So, in the fall of 1928, Marvin enrolled at the school. He went to school, worked and played on the Football team. In the meantime, Campbell High School burned down and classes had to be held in churches and above Brown’s Drug Store. The next year Ada, received a scholarship to Will Mayfield. Since it was teacher’s college, they operated a primary and secondary school. Our school burned down, so Iva Lee wanted to join them in Marble Hill. So, In September 1929, Marvin, Ada, Iva Lee and I went to Will Mayfield. We were all in the teacher’s school. Marvin found an old house that was cheaper than an apartment. Papa helped pay my way with some chickens. Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell helped send eggs a couple times to help us pay for books and fees. A month later the stock market crashed. Will Mayfield College lost their endowments. We were barely getting by. Sometimes Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell would send us a little extra for us. We often went hungry. Marvin had odd jobs that helped us get food. He was always so good at taking care of us. Close to the end of the school year in 1930, Will Mayfield College ran out of money and closed the school. Ada sent a message through a neighbor who was driving through Marble Hill to contact Mama to try to get a ride home for us because we didn’t have car or truck. Mama wrote a letter to Oswald (Tobe) to see if he could borrow a car or truck and come and get us. He was working clearing timber. Tobe hitchhiked to Campbell to borrow a car and then he came to get us. We did not know who was coming or when, we just knew someone was coming. We had run out of food a couple of days before he arrived. I don’t know what we would have done if it had been more days before he came.” Will Mayfield opened again in the fall of 1930 and then permanently closed in 1934 and never reopened. Graduates of Will Mayfield College generally became teachers and administrators, and the college consistently claimed that there were more teachers in Missouri with Will Mayfield diplomas than from any other state college. But, a devastating fire in 1926 and the Depression of the 1930s led to economic difficulties, and this college in Marble Hill, Missouri closed its doors for good in May of 1934. During the 1929-30 school year Marvin Kinsey was named as a co-captain of the football team. It is amazing that he stuck with the football team. In 1928, during his first year with the team, Will Mayfield played Murray State and lost 119-6. Marvin moved to Cape Girardeau and enrolled at Southeast State Teachers College (now Southeast Missouri State). Marvin recorded, "I had practically no cash, but I secured a job working in a cafe for room and board, and I signed a note for my tuition and books." Ada transferred to Jonesboro Baptist College in Jonesboro, Arkansas. She attended the remainder of 1930 and all of 1931 at the college. Jonesboro Baptist College closed its doors in 1932.
Mildred and Iva Lee returned to Campbell to complete High school. My Grandmother, Mildred Kinsey Adams, grew-up in Campbell, Missouri. She shared the following story with me about her Grandfather Madison Monroe "Tobe" Kinsey: “When Papa left for work in Michigan, Mama wondered if he would ever come back. He stayed in Flint for a little over two years. While there, he only sent money home twice. Once he sent $30.00 and another time he sent $20.00. We had little for Christmas. Sometimes we had nothing except each other. The second Christmas without papa, we awoke to have breakfast as a family and that was our Christmas. It was a nice breakfast and then we had a quiet morning. Then, Grandpa Kinsey arrived mid-morning with a burlap sack over his shoulder, and Grandma Kinsey came with a basket. They brought us a ham, potatoes, eggs and flour. Grandma immediately went to work making biscuits. Grandpa gathered us around. Grandpa Kinsey then told us a joke. If we grandkids laughed at his jokes, we could then stick our hands in his coat pockets and pull out some candy. Grandpa then would regale us with his stories, which he embellished each time he told the story. When we caught him in his exaggeration he would break out in laughter. After many years, he had embellished his stories so much that he forgot what really happened. He would then laugh at himself with a deep belly laugh. Our Christmas gift ended up being the laughter brought to us by Grandpa Kinsey, through his fun stories and his jovial nature. It was truly a treasure beyond any physical gift he could have given us. I have the memory of him. Any other gifts disappeared long, long ago.”
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Kinsey FamilyEd Adams Archives
June 2014
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