Beyond The Cotton Fields was the first book I wrote. I published it in 2008 at as a gift to my three daughters in an effort to share with them their family history and Mississippi roots. I sold most of my vacations at the mill I worked at that year and had 200 copies printed. I gave them all away. At this time I do not have any intentions on reprinting my books. We have decided to close our small publishing company. But due to many request for Beyond The Cotton Fields I have decided to share my life's story with those that are interested in this blog. Due to its length I will have to share it a few chapters at a time. This is the first installment. I hope you enjoy it.

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Beyond The Cotton Fields - Stories about living, loving and growing up in Mississippi

Dear Amy, Becky and Carrie,

I know you have heard some of these stories a hundred times while you were growing up, but bear with me once more because there are a few more I would like to share with you now that you are older. I would like to tell you some I could not tell you as bedtime stories when you were children.

You and your children should know where your family came from and in these passages I will try to tell you a little about your ancestors, people I knew and things I encountered growing up in Mississippi. For the most part these stories describe my life through 1978, when I made the difficult decision to leave Oak Hill Farm.

I believe everything we encounter during our lives has a purpose. Everyone we meet, everything we see, touch, hear and everything we smell become a part of who we are. We can turn good to bad or we can turn bad to good… it is our choice. As it is written in Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Use the things you encounter in life for the benefit of others and you will be truly blessed.

You already know most of our family’s history after Tina and I moved to Kentucky. I will trust you to share your own interpretation of those events with your children and grandchildren. I encourage you to begin a diary and write down as much as you can. I learned that lesson too late. There are far too many stories that have escaped my memory you would love to know about.

With that said, I hope you enjoy what I have recorded here. For the last 30 years I have either made paper or put a coating on it. Here, I attempt to record my life on some of that paper. I have been told that each time a person from a preceding generation passes away it is like a library burning down. The times and events of that generation will fade into history just like smoke fading into the sky.

Write your stories down. Write nothing to harm anyone, but write to enlighten the future generations that will some day sit and wonder... “What was it like when you were a little girl growing up in Kentucky?”

Here is to the past - and to your future. I will always hold you in my heart.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to acknowledge Alice Algood and Louis Taunton for inspiring me to write down and preserve my stories from the past. Without looking backward it is difficult to know how far we have traveled.

I would like to further acknowledge the following people for their help in preserving some of the historical information contained in these writings: Alice Algood, James Algood, Lamar Algood, Reuben Algood, Rochelle Foster Algood, Stuart Bennett, Helen Cockrell, Thomas Cockrell, Jeremy Foster, Joyce Foster, Camille Fulton, Emma Hathaway, Jennie Newsome Hoffman and the Federal Writers’ Project, Josie Holman, Margaret “Nora” Martin, William Alderman Parker, Nancy R. Parkes, Loula Zell McKay Ray, Russell Ray, Berlin Rogers, Selby Sullivan, Margaret Tutor, and Justin Wainscott.

Cathy Algood, Terry Algood, Tina Algood, Tonny Algood, Carrie Bottoms, Sharon Byrd, David Clothier, Martha Moore, Etoy Morris, Becky Roberts, Amy Wilke and Marilee Wilks were my advisors on writing or proofing stories that are included in this book.

Numerous relatives, friends, neighbors, employers, teachers and former classmates made the stories much more interesting by allowing me to tell how they impacted my life.

Information contained herein is believed to be accurate, but due to many sources not all can be guaranteed. In some cases, the names have been changed intentionally.

Continued in Beyond the Cotton Fields, Part 2

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Rick Algood
December 11, 2017