The Porter Place
County Road 401, Merkel, Texas
(about 2 miles north of Merkel)
Home to the Elbert Dean Family
Elbert Sr. farmed the place for Mrs. Porter, who lived in Merkel. Shares were probably 1/3 for cash crops like cotton, and 1/4 for other crops like feed. No shares for pasture.
Mom always had lots of flowers. The tall plants were roses. Lots of roses. The front, flat area was bare dirt, scraped clean and leveled every spring to look nice. "We didn't have much, but we took pride in what we had." (recalled by Elbert Jr.)
"In the winter months, dad taught us to play the game of "Forty-Two" on the kitchen table, so we could shuffle them well on the old oilcloth table cover. Of course, ever so often, we would have to stop and feed wood logs into the old heater so we could stay warm. We had already harvested our popcorn crops, so we would then take time to pop corn for us all to enjoy along with or to take the place of supper as few were hungry after popcorn." (recollection by Maureen Dean Jaynes)
Elbert Dean, Sr. Family (1935)
Front: Bernie, Elbert Jr., Rena, Boots
Back: Pauleen, Maurine, Margaret, Mildred, Mom, Dad
