Life at the Home20

My great grandmother, Dezzie Lee McCollum Hadley was born September 29, 1878 in Fayette County, Alabama.  She was the daughter of Charlie Richard McCollum and Dorthy Ford.  They also were born in Fayette County, descendants of prominent families in that area, the McCollums, Fords, Hollingsworths, Nichols, Carters and Galloways.

(Digital scrapbooking credits: ”The Basics Collection” at Scrapbookgraphics.)

At sometime during the 1880’s, several of the McCollums began to migrate west to Texas, settling in the northern portion, just east of Abilene.  Dorthy’s last child was born in 1884 and she died at some point soon after that.  Charlie later married Martha Merriwether.  Their first child was born in 1888 in Texas.

Dezzie married Rush Edwin “Cub” Hadley in Callahan County, Texas on February 10, 1895.  The original marriage license is in my possession.  Cub was the son of Thomas Bogges Hadley and Sarah “Sallie” Peebles.  T. B. was county sheriff soon after Dezzie and Cub married.

Cub and Dezzie had six children:  Ada, Nina, Hazel, Edwin, Louetta, and Melba.  Due to Cub’s failing health, the family moved to a drier climate in Lockney, Floyd County, Texas, near Lubbock.  Cub died there, from tuberculosis, on February 4, 1935.  He was buried in Lockney Cemetery.  Dezzie’s parents also moved to Lockney and are buried there as well.  Dezzie’s grandmother, Susan Nichols McCollum, died while visiting and is also interred in the same cemetery.

Dezzie went with her children in the late 1940’s to live in Long Beach, California.  Jobs were scarce in Texas and California became a temporary haven for a few.  She died while living there on May 21, 1949.  Her body was returned to Texas to be buried next to her husband.  Some of her children remained in California indefinitely while others returned to the Amarillo area in the Texas panhandle.

Tags: Southern Genealogy //