Hardy Crews Family

The descendents of Hardy H. and Martha Thomas Crews created a cookbook dedicated in loving honor to Hardy & Martha Crews. Though they are gone, this cookbook is a testament to the legacy of family, love, and friendship that they left to all of us. A special Thank You to David Crews for his contribution to the artwork on this page. Hardy and Martha moved to Charlton County, Georgia with their two children in 1900. Hardy's father, Hamp, had moved there a year earlier. The family settled on a small farm northwest of Folkston, where, in addition to farming, Hardy used his wagon and team of mules to haul goods for the public, including hauling cotton to the Folkston cotton gin. In Charlton County, Hardy and Martha added another thirteen children to their family, including a son who died in infancy in 1904, and another infant son who died in 1911. The surviving sons of Hardy and Martha were George, Elbert, Marshall, Raleigh, Jeff, Fred and Horace. The daughters were Nora, Cora Bell, Goldie Mae, Maude, Celia and Susie. Hardy's parents were Hampton Crews,Sr. and Basheba (Bashey) Guy. Martha was the daughter of Banner Mixon Thomas and Mary Elizabeth Jones. Crews Cousins: Keeping our history alive for future generations...... Reflections of Martha Mizell Thomas Crews Written by Pamela Reintz Sep.2002 Hardy H. Crews was born on 4 Oct 1878 in Brantley, Co., GA. He died on 26 Oct 1953 in Waycross, GA. He is buried in Sardis Cemetery, Folkston, Georgia. Martha Mizell Thomas was born on 8 Oct 1882 in Pierce Co., GA. She died on 1 May 1974 in St. Mary’s, Ga.. She is buried in Sardis Cemetery, Folkston, GA. Hardy married Martha on 9 Feb 1898. They eventually had fifteen children of whom thirteen lived to adulthood. I never knew grandpa Hardy. He died several years before I was born. Everybody says he was a man who truly loved his family, and that he loved his grandchildren in particular. I’ve heard some wonderful stories about him, such as: he loved to talk politics and he was the tax receiver for Charlton County for forty years. He used to have his children and grandchildren help him with the workload at tax time. Grandpa Hardy was so popular and well liked by his peers in Charlton County that many times no one would even bother to run against him. Grandma Martha, on the other hand, I knew well. She even lived with us when she got too old to live by herself. My granny, Susie Reagin of St. Mary’s, Georgia, (Hardy & Martha’s youngest daughter) raised me and we paid regular visits to Grandma Martha. I used to love going to grandma Martha’s house. We would pull into the yard and out would come Grandma Martha and Aunt Goldie, another of Grandma Martha’s daughters, to greet us. We would hug and say Hello and go inside together. In Grandma Martha’s living room there was a small sofa on one wall and an assortment of rocking chairs around the rest of the room. There was a cardboard box behind one of the chairs. This box held an assortment of little bottles as well as a top. That was the toy box at Grandma Martha’s house. I used to love to play with that top and watch it spin across the floor. The bottles were all odd shaped little medicine bottles that were very interesting. Grandma Martha had some lovely pictures hanging on her walls, pictures of children and animals. There were always several school pictures tucked into the frames of these pictures, of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The little pictures I enjoyed most were of two little girls who were twins. I don’t know who these distant cousins were but they were pretty little girls and I was intrigued that they looked so much alike. Off the living room, to the right, was Grandma Martha’s bedroom. There were two or three beds in there. She had a little table next to her bed with a Lazy Susan on it. This is where she kept her medicines and salves. There was a wardrobe just inside the bedroom door to the left and a potty chair, for nighttime use, to the right. Over Grandma’s bed there was a string tied to the light bulb in the center of the room. The string was then tied to Grandma Martha’s bed so that she could turn on the light in the night. I got to sleep with Grandma Martha once when I went there. My cousin, Agnes Crews (now Duke), told me that she always slept with Grandma when she went to visit. Because of this, Agnes grew up under the impression that she was Grandma Martha’s favorite but I know that isn’t true because I was Grandma’s favorite. I don’t remember grandma Martha ever buying me anything at all but I grew up KNOWING that I was her favorite! I would be a grown woman, nearing forty, before I discovered that many of her grandchildren and great grandchildren were equally sure they were her favorite. What a gifted grandma she was, to have had that effect on so many of us. Like Brenda Kay Crews (now Atchison), she always thought she was Grandma’s favorite because Grandma made her feel special, and because Grandma used to comb Brenda Kay’s hair with her fingers. But Grandma Martha used to comb my hair with her fingers too, and when she did she would tell me stories about the family. I especially enjoyed the stories about my Granny Susie as a little girl. Because I so easily stumbled across several of us who thought we were Grandma Martha’s favorites, I suspect there were probably many, many others who grew up with the same conviction. What a wonderful and successful grandmother she was to have that ability to make us all feel so special. I expect when we all get to heaven and ask her about it, she’ll smile sweetly and tell us we were all right, every one of us was her favorite! That was just Grandma Martha’s way, she made us all feel special. I don’t remember ever eating a meal at Grandma Martha’s house but I know we must have because we spent the night and we certainly didn’t go out to eat. Her kitchen was small and I don’t remember much about it except there was some sort of freestanding cupboard in the corner. It seems like this cupboard was made of some metal, painted white. On top of this was always a box of ginger snap cookies. Sometimes she would get down that box and we’d eat a cookie together. To this day, I still think of Grandma when I eat a Ginger Snap cookie. Grandma Martha had lots of flowers and other plants in her yard and sometimes she’d take me outside with her, to care for them. We would clip the dead blooms off and she’d explain to me that this would cause the plant to bloom longer. Then she would point out the bush with the little orange berries and tell me very firmly that these berries were good for the birds to eat but they were poison for people to eat. Then we’d move on to other things. Grandma Martha used every thing in life as a teaching moment but you never felt like you were being taught, but rather that she was showing you special attention. There were little purple flowers along her front walk, called Verbena I believe. I used to love to get down on the ground and examine these little flowers. The end of the petals had little jagged edges and I liked to study them. Beside Grandma Martha’s storage shed, there was a little patch of the softest, greenest moss that I’ve ever seen. I loved to run my fingers over it. I used to imagine that moss was God’s own green carpet. She had wash tubs situated on a table or some sort of stand, to catch the rain that ran off her tin roof. This water was used for washing, I believe. Grandma Martha came from a time when you used everything the good Lord saw fit to give you and you didn’t waste anything. Thus the old saying “waste not, want not”. Before we went to bed, we’d sit on the screened back porch and wash our feet in small wash pans. Nobody slept in Grandma Martha’s beds without washing their feet first. Then we’d linger on the porch a while and watch the trains go by out back. Sometimes those trains were carrying a lot of new cars on them and it was fun to watch them go by. And sometimes, if the stars were properly aligned, and the moon was bright, Grandma Martha would go to the storage shed and get out a few of Aunt Goldie’s treasured dolls and if everything were really right that night, I’d get to hold one of them for a few moments. So you see, I really was her favorite! Reflections of Nora Augusta Crews. Nora was born January 15, 1899, the first-born of Hardy and Martha Crews. She soon became the little Mama looking after the younger children as they came along in fast pursuit. She started cooking at an early age and continued to cook, as Grandma and the other children would go to work in the fields. Her love for cooking continued through the years. She was step-mother to 16 children but never had any children of her own. After she became grown, she stayed with people when there was sickness or a new baby in the home and helped with the cooking, washing, and nursing the sick. She married John Hodges at age 31 or 32. He was much older man with six children. Three of children w ere still at home and Nora helped to finish raise them. John died after about ten years. In 1943 she married Chesteen Wildes who had ten children. Two children were still at home The youngest being Jimmie, age 14. Hazel was 17 and had graduated from High School. Hazel was wondering if she could go to college and use her scholarship. One day during the summer her Dad came in and told her to go ahead and plan to go to college at Georgia Teachers College in Statesboro. He told her that he and Nora were going to get married in October, Hazel did become a teacher and taught for thirty years. They lived on a farm 13 miles from, Alma, Ga. The original farm was divided and the Wildes sons owned joining farms. They kept the old home place pretty much like it was originally built with the new kitchen built with the back porch in between. Nora and Jimmie cooked on a wood stove until 1976. They continued to have their well that you could draw water from, although they had running water There was no; grass in there yard only white sand. They raked their yards every week. Nora and Chasteen were very compatible and had much to talk about as they knew the same people from their youth, though they did not know each other until after their mates died. They grew big garden and lots of vegetables. Nora believed in saving everything. She couldn't bear to let anything go to waste in the garden. She and Jimmie also made jelly, jams preserves, pickles and etc. Mrs. Nora could really make good pickled peaches and wonder jelly cakes. She also loved flowers and had flowerbeds and blooming flowers much of the year. They had there own milk cow, chickens, hogs, and cows and a big dog named Ted. Nora had fair complexion and always wore long sleeves, a long dress and a bonnet ahe was outside working. If she was dressed up going somewhere, she always had her hat on, and if was the least bit cool, she her sweater on or a shawl. She was very outgoing and talked to people wherever she went. After Hazel retired from teaching, she drove from Waycross t o their home every two weeks and took Mrs. Nora and Jimmie to town. They usually went to the doctor's office, to the drugstore, to Moore's Department Store (and sometimes other stores) to Hardee's to eat, and to the grocery store. People knew Mrs. Nora and Jimmie everywhere they went. One day a strange lady saw Mrs. Nora in the grocery store and said to Hazel, "She is beautiful!" with her hat, her long dress, her shawl, and her special shoes, she did make a picture! Nora made most of hers and Jimmies clothes including her bonnets, and did some quilting This is what Jimmie had to say about Mrs. Nora. "She was a good woman. She was good to; me We looked after each other. She was always willing to help out the neighbors in time of need. She enjoyed playing a good joke on somebody and having a good laugh. She enjoyed visiting relatives in Folkston and always looked forward to George and Maude's visits from Oklahoma. She enjoyed going and staying with Cora Belle and attending the Yearly Meetings at Sardis the 4th weekend in September each year and visiting with all the church people. She was always proud to see anybody come to visit. It didn't matter if it was her people or the Hodge children or the Wildes family. She (and Chesteen) was always proud to see anybody come and made them feel welcome. The company would always be invited to eat. Nora was fairly active until the last year she lived. Then she started having light strokes. She was bedridden for about a month and died in the Waycross Hospital June of 1986. She was buried next to where her sister Cora Belle would be buried at Sardis Cemetery near Folkston. Written by Betty Jo