A little Thanksgiving hisory

Every year since 1813, Americans have celebrated Thanksgiving. Prior to 1863, Thanksgivingwascelebrated off and on beginning in 1789,whenPresidentGeorge Washington proclaimed that it was “the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor.”

In 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln declared that there should be a yearly, National Day of Thanksgiving, he implored the American people to give 'Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Fatherwhodwelleth in the Heavens. Lincoln also calledontheAmericanpeople to humbly and “fervently implore the interposition of theAlmightyhandtohealthe wounds of the nation.” Since 1863, the day of thanksgiving hascontinueduninterrupted.

However, thanksgiving is more than one day, one week, one month, or even one year. ThemindsetofThanksgiving should be a continual way of life. Craig Lounsbrough, a noted counselor, life coach and author said Thanksgiving is so much more.

'Thanksgivingremindsus that no matter what befalls us in life, we can take the charred remnants, and we canreconstruct a life unimaginably richer than that from which the shards and pieces fell,' Lounsbrough said.

AccordingtoLounsbrough, if people focus on the things they have, and not the things they have lost…if they live a life of Thanksgiving…they can have a rich life, full of happiness and contentment. To prove Lounsbrough’s point, one needs to look no further than the story of Lucy Ivy Payne, and her story of Thanksgiving.

Lucy was born on September 7, 1885, in Hunt County, Texas. At the age of 17, she married Charles Durden Payne,onDecember21,1902. In 1910, Lucy and Charles movedtotheAyleswortharea of Marshall County, where they farmed on a small parcel of rented land.

After a few years, Lucy and Charles bought 80 acres of land in the Timber Hill area of Marshall County and they moved to their new land and began building a farm. The land was run down and in bad condition, but Lucy and Charles worked hard to build it back up to a workable farm. When they bought the Timber Hill land, Lucy and Charles had four children, two girls and two boys.

Within two or three years, the Paynes bought 80 acres of land near Linn, about five milesawayfromtheirTimber Hill farm. They tried to work both parcels, but it was difficult because of the distance. By 1917, Lucy and Charles were doing well.

Their farms were productive, and they were making a good living. They had also welcomed another child and they were quite blessed. Then, in April of 1917, America entered World War I and the tide turned for the Payne family.

America’s entry in World War I caused many problems for the working class. Inflation became a major issue, and because of the draft, it became almost impossible to hire reliable farm hands. That required Charles and Lucy to work the farm on their own. Between 1917 and 1919, they welcomed two more children to the family.

Yet, as bad as things were because of the war, things got much worse for the family in 1919. Beginning in February of 1918, the entire world fell victim to the great influenza pandemic, also known by the common misnomer, the “Spanish flu.” It is estimated that the Spanish Flu claimed the lives of 21 million people worldwide. Seven times worse than the Covid pandemic of 2020-2021.

Of those 21 million, almost 700,000 were Americans. Oklahoma was not immune fromtheSpanishFluandneither was Marshall County. It is estimated that 100,000 Oklahomans were infected with the Spanish Flu, and over 7,500 Oklahomans died.

In early January of 1919, Charles Payne became ill with the flu. On January 18, 1919, Charles died from his illness. His death was devastating to his family.

Charles left Lucy with six children,withoneontheway, twofarms,amortgageandno money to pay for farm workers. Lucy’s world seemed to have come to an end.

Six months after Charles death, Lucy gave birth to her and Charles’ seventh child. ix months after Charles’ death, Lucy had seven children, aged newborn to fifteen years old. There were four girls and three boys. The two oldest were girls, and the oldest boy was just nine.

Lucy and her children struggled to make ends meet that first year, but somehow, they were able to make it through the first winter after Charles’ death. The children helped where they could, but because of their tender age, there was not a lot they could do.Lucywasdeterminedthat they would not miss school, so they were only able to help after school, and on weekends.

In the spring of 1920, Lucy sold the 80 acres near Linn, and she began working the Timber Hill farm by herself. By this time, the children were a year older, and were able to do a little more to help with the chores.

In 1928, Lucy told the Madill Record that “we learned how to live cheaply, so we got by that year, and in the fall, cotton was sky-high, so we made enough to live fairly comfortably that winter.” The children remained in school though, meaning Lucy worked the farm all day, while taking care of the two youngest children who had not yet started school.

Then in late 1921, Lucy found love again, or so she thought. n late 1920 or early 1921, Lucy married an older man named Charles Cobb. Charles and his first wife Fannie, lived near Linn.

InJanuaryof1920,Fannie died in 1920 leaving Charles with three children at home, aged 16, 13 and 6. Charles and his children moved to Lucy’s farm, and it appeared she would have a companion and someone to help run the family business. In late 1921, Lucy became pregnant with her eighth child. Sadly, before the birth of their child, Charles Cobb left Lucy and movedtoTexas. ixmonthsafter the birth their child, Lucy divorced Charles, and he wouldneverhaveanyfurther involvement with the family. Lucy and Charles Cobb’s son would thereafter go by the name of Payne. Legally, he was a Cobb, but he chose to live by his mother’s name.

Lucy was a single parent for a second time, with eight children and an 80-acre farm. However, instead of giving up, Lucy just worked harder.

Over the next few years, Lucy, with the help of her eight children, worked the farm and together they turned it into a thriving operation. Lucy began planting oats, cotton, corn, kafir, and higeria. Within a few years, Lucy and her children had grown the farm to the point that they needed more land. So, in 1925 or 1926, she was able to buy a 100-acre tract of land that adjoined her 80acre farm.

With the extra 100 acres of pastureland, Lucy bought turkey, chickens, cattle and hogs. She then bought five Jersey milk cows for $68 dollars each and she began a dairy operation.

By 1928, Lucy was selling cream from her milk cows to a creamery in Carthage, Miss.In1928alone,Lucysold almost$1000dollarsofcream to the Missouri creamery. That would equate to approximately $18,000 in 2023.

Lucy was also raising and selling beef cattle and hogs. She would slaughter what her family needed for meat for the year, she would keep a few female cows and a few sows for breeding, and then sell the rest.

Lucy also raised about 400 chickens each year. She preferred the Barred Rock chickens for their egg production and incredible health. Each year, she would sell half her chickens and then keep the other half for eggs and meat throughout the year.

She also only raised Poland China hogs because of their big frame, long bodied, leanandmuscularbuild. She always kept hogs on hand for meat.

For Thanksgiving of 1928, Marshall County began operating a “turkey pool” at both Thanksgiving and Christmas. The turkey pool wasanopenmarket,basedin Madill, that provided a place for farmers and ranchers to market and sell turkeys for the holidays. All the farmers and ranchers that raised turkey brought their birds to Madill, to sell. The “turkey pool” operated for many years.

During that first turkey pool, Lucy was able to sell 88 of her 192 turkeys for an average of $4.06 per turkey. In 2023 dollars, that would be $73 per turkey. That first Thanksgiving, Lucy made four hundred dollars, or $7,250 in 2023 dollars. Then at the Christmas pool, she sold75moreturkeys,making anotherfourhundreddollars.

In the November 29, 1928, issue of the Madill Record, Lucy Payne recounted her success over the first ten years since the death of her first husband Charles, and the abandonment by her second husband. n that issue, Lucy explained, “We all work on the farm. The girls and I went in strong for canning this summer. In all, we canned 275 jars of fruits and vegetables for winter use. We have practically everything imaginable canned. So, taking it all around, we have done fairly well this year. paid off an old debt the other day, and that almost put us entirely in the clear. In fact, it would have if it hadn’t been that we have had two hospital bills this summer. But just the same, we are going to come out all right for our year’s work.”

Within a few more years, Lucy became so successful with her turkey operation, that she was able to contract with a large grocery store operation in Kansas City. Lucy supplied a large portion of that store’s turkey needseachThanksgivingand Christmas. InlateNovember and December, Lucy would conduct a “Turkey Picking Day” where she would solicit helpfromhergrownchildren, her grandchildren, friends and hired help, to assist in the picking and preparing of turkeys for shipment to Kansas City. In addition to paying the “pickers,” Lucy, with the help of her daughters, prepared a large noon meal for all those who came to help. The turkeys were picked and prepared, loaded onto horse-drawn wagons and then taken to the depot in Madill where they were packed in dry ice for the trip to Kansas City. The grocery store would pay for the turkeys and the freight to Kansas City.

Explaining the reason for the success of her turkey operation, Lucy told the Madill Record, “I think I have done quite well with them…” One reason my turkeys are successful is “I fed them corn to fatten them up for several weeks before” they are sold, and they are always “real fat.” She went on to say that “most turkeys” are “poor, the produce men say, but mine were all fat.”

Over the next fifteen or so years, Lucy continued to operate her farm, by herself, aided only by her children. By the time she “retired,” Lucy had built one of the most successful farms in Marshall County. Her farm was one of the first “diversified” farms in Marshall County. She grew crops to sell, but she also used her crops to feed her livestock. She never had to buy feed for the animals. She also used her crops and livestock to feed her family.

She rarely had to buy groceries, as she fed her family with meat, poultry, vegetables and bread, all produced on her farm. She also made most of the clothing that she and her children wore.

All eight of her children became successful adults. Many of them went on to college, with financial assistance fromLucy.Onebecame a very successful accountant in California. Another became an educator, who was the long-time principal and Superintendent at Kingston. Many still remember Jay Payne, Lucy’s second son.

Writing about Lucy, the editor of the Madill Record stated the following at Thanksgiving of 1928.

“Anywomanwhocanbuck the work as she bucked it ten years ago when her husband died and left her eight children to fee cloth and educate alone, and who can make a success of all lines of farming as she has done, pay hospital bills, buy land, raise dairy cattle and beef stock, and live comfortably all the time too – such a woman is certain to come out alright.”

“Behind every successful man farmer in Marshall County today, there is a woman who is responsible for at least sixty percent of whatever success that is wrought from the soil,” the article continued. “It is the woman who guides the destiny of diversification. It is the woman who plans for the family kitchen and cellar. It is the woman who writes the word prosperity in the most eloquent sentence ever written in agricultural development; ‘Prosperity follows the dairy cow.’ Without the woman, there would be little in Marshall County today. It is the woman who furnishes the most striking example of what a farmer can do in Marshall County – a woman bereft of a husband – a woman who accepts the weighty responsibility of rearing eight fatherless children and does her duty well. That woman is Lucy Ivy Payne.”

After the death of her first husband, and after being abandoned by her second, Lucy could have given up and lived a life of helplessness and poverty. Iinstead, she took the charred remnants of her life and she reconstructed a life unimaginably richer than the one from which the shards and pieces of the devastation fell. She always remained thankful for what she had, instead of focusing onwhatshehadlost.Because of that, she became one of the most successful farmers in Marshall County history. She also raised eight wonderful children who each made this world a little better than it was before.

As Ernest Hemingway once said, 'Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Instead, think of what you can do with what there is.' Hemingway could have been describing Lucy Ivey Payne when he made this statement. Lucy never spent a moment thinking of what she did not have. She always focused on what she would do with what was left. She was thankful and she lived a life full of thanksgiving.

This Thanksgiving, remember Lucy and what she did with the charred remains of a devastated life. Remember how she focused on what she could do with what was left, and ignored what was lost. Focus on and be thankful for what one has and look pastwhatonehaslostorwhat one does not have.

As the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonians, in I Thessalonians 5, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” Lucy was thankful, and she lived an unimaginable life. That opportunity is there for all who rejoice and are thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving.