Tulian Clements Reese

He sat rocking on the back porch of the white frame house he had built in 1947 watching his grandchildren play in the dirt. Every once in a while they would run past him and he would swat them with the flyswatter he always had in his hand and they would squeal in delight. It was a game that they all enjoyed. Tulian Clements (T.C.)Reese was my grandfather and though he passed away when I was twelve, I have wonderful memories of him. My mother, his youngest daughter Irell, adored him. She described him as a fun loving father who loved to tease and dispel words of wisdom, such as "If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas on you," or "Pretty is as pretty does." My family lived with him and my grandmother for about six years. I watched him drive my sweet grandmother to distraction by thumping his teaspoon on a saucer while she prepared breakfast. He loved to slurp coffee while my grandmother glared at him. He was seventeen years older than Ethel McDaniel Reese. I never heard him call her by her given name, only Daughter. My brother and I spent a lot of time following granddaddy around, helping him garden and tend to his cows and hogs. My grandfather would be considered a "picker" today because he had several barns filled with junk as most of the family termed it. His grandchildren, however,  thought he had barns filled with treasures. He had a huge wooden box filled with skeleton keys, and another huge box filled with suicide knobs (those colorful knobs found on the steering wheels and columns of vintage cars.) One barn held a huge pump organ that we loved to play and furniture and bric a brac of all sorts. There were old cars on the property also filled with junk. He had an old smoke house that my grandmother filled with jams, jellies and other canned goods. She had also stored a couple of boxes of depression glass on one of the shelves. My cousin and I were playing in the smokehouse one day (though we were told not to) and I knocked a box off the shelf and everything in the box shattered. We decided not to tell anyone, but granddaddy found it and told us it was a good thing grandmother hated those dishes or we would be in a lot of trouble. Years later I confessed to my grandmother and ask her why she had hated those dishes so much. She said they were all the dishes they could ever afford and she hated the green color. I would love to know what those dishes were worth today!

Eddie Bowden and Archibald Tulian Reese

Tulian Clements Reese

1893

Tulian Clements Reese was born to Archibald Tulian (Archie) and Eddie Bowden Reese on November 30, 1892. He was the oldest child of ten siblings with big beautiful blue eyes. The family lived in the rural area of Columbus, GA and had a small farm.  They attended Pearce Chapel Methodist church with many of Archie's brother and sisters, along with Eddie's family. As the oldest son, Clements started working in the field along side his father at a very young age. According to the 1900 and 1910 census Clements never attended school. 

Clements and his sister Mabel were quite popular in the small Fortson community. Their names were often mentioned in the What's Happening Around Town column in the Columbus paper. 

Bowden (left) and Clements Reese

In 1913 Clements and his brother Bowden were involved in an accident on Hamilton Road (now Veteran's Parkway). They were driving a wagon filled with seed cotton. The horse and mule team bolted and rounding a curve the wagon turned over trapping Clements and Bowden underneath. Clement's left arm was broken in two places between the elbow and shoulder. Bowden was buried under a full bale of seed cotton, but was only badly bruised. 
(From Columbus Daily Enquirer, October 13, 1913, p.3)

 

Clements Reese and Nancy Bedell Smith

Nancy, Blackie and Clements

Janie and Mildred Reese

Clements married Nancy Bedell Smith, the daughter of Cicero and Lucy Jane Cannon Smith on March 3, 1915. They welcomed their first son, Larkin Tulian Reese (known as Blackie) in April 1916. They lived on Smith Road in the house pictured below. 

Clements and Nancy's home in the background*

Their second child,Joe Lemuel, was born on December 8, 1918. He became very ill in early November 1919 and died November 15th of acute enteritis (chronic inflammation of the lining of the intestine). He was buried at Pearce Chapel Methodist Church. Their first daughter Janie Somers arrived in arrived in 1920 and Mildred Lavinia was born in 1923. During this time the family lived in the Fortson area. The family was living on Woolridge Road when their home burned down. The story goes that there were moonshiners in the area. Their still was discovered and for some reason they thought Clements had informed the sheriff. They retaliated by burning their home down (story was told to me by Bill Reese, Clements' son).  In June 1925, their son Arthur was born, Nancy never recovered from his birth. She passed away on July 10th from acute nephritis and septicemia (inflammation of the kidneys and blood poisoning.) Clements found himself a widow with three young children and an infant. (Nancy's brother, George Smith, took Arthur, telling Clements he and his wife Lavinia would be glad to take care of the baby until he could make arrangements for the care of him. He continued to live with the Smiths until he was 16 and went by Arthur Smith. At the age of 16, Clements and his sons went to see Arthur and explained that he was his father. Arthur decided to move back in with his real father.) 

Ethel McDaniel, Clements Reese, Mittie Lou McDaniel

At the age of 33, Clements decided that he needed a new wife. According to Clement's son Bill, T.C. was driving a logging truck and found himself on Whitesville Road in Harris County, GA in a logging camp. Logging companies built small cheap houses for the timber workers and their families to live in. Ethel McDaniel and her family were living in the camp. After a whirlwind courtship, Clements and Ethel married on December 15, 1925. By 1930, Clements and Ethel had three children, Dorothy Edna born in 1927, Frances Lorene born in 1928 and John Blanchard born in 1929. William Clements (Bill) was born in 1931 and Bessie Irell in 1932. 

Dot, Lorene, John

Bill and Irell Reese

  In the 1930's and early 40's Clements ran a grocery store and worked in his brother Bowden's dairy farm. They rented various homes in the Fortson area. In 1939 or 1940, Clement's brother Bowden bought an old tractor. On the first day of it's use Clements got the tractor stuck in the mud. He was able to get the tractor moving the next day. He started inching the tractor up on some wood when the tractor suddenly turned over trapping him underneath. John and Bill were with him, John ran to tell Ethel and Bill tried to help him. Hot water was spilling over Clements. He was finally able to get out from under the tractor and made it to the side of the road. His brother Bowden took him to a doctor in town. He had a broken pelvis. In a few days he went back to work. In the early 1940's they lived in the Old Smith homeplace on Smith Road. On the back of the photograph my mother Irell wrote that "Daddy had barns for the cows and horses. He milked the cows and delivered milk and butter to make extra money."

The Old Smith place is in the background

The family moved to a house on Smith Road near the railroad tracks. My mother Irell wrote that "the house near the railroad tracks was not a very good house. Mother kept the house so clean and cooked on a wood stove. We carried water from a well from an old home place that had burned down. I carried a syrup bucket, a half gallon size. By the time I got back home I had very little water left."

Ben Brown, Bob Brown and John Reese

Clements at the house near the railroad tracks on Smith Road

Irell, Bob Brown, Bill and John with Clements

Clements built their first home in 1947 on Smith Road in front of the house he had lived in with his first wife, Nancy. 

Bill and John Reese at the home on Smith Road built by Clements Reese

Shortly after they moved into their home, Ethel's cousin asked if he would manage his grist mill at Oak Mountain outside Waverly Hall, GA. They moved into the house provided with the mill. They lived at Oak Mountain until 1952.(More information on their time at Oak Mountain, along with pictures can be found in the post: Dorothy Ethel McDaniel Reese in this blog). 

Ethel, Irell and Clements Reese at Oak Mountain in 1952

They moved back to Columbus and Clements ran a grocery store on Hamilton Road near Britt David Road. 

Clements sitting in front of his store on Hamilton Road across from Hale's Grocery (Hale's Grocery is still in this location.)

In 1953 they moved again and ran a grocery store above Moon Road on Hamilton Road. I have some memories about this time in their lives. I can remember the red Coca Cola coke box and a large jar of Jack's Cookies

inside the grocery store. I was living in Wichita, Kansas with my parents but we visited a lot. 

Clements and Linda (me) checking on the chickens behind the store on Hamilton Road

  We moved from Wichita, Kansas to Crestview, Florida and in 1957 we moved back to Columbus and moved in with my grandparents. By this time they had moved back to their home on Smith Road. We lived with them for six years, I feel so lucky that I got to spend those years with them. They loved me and spent a lot of time with me and all their grandchildren. I never lacked for playmates! Clements always had a lot of animals, no matter where he and grandmother were living. On Smith Road, he raised chickens, calves and pigs. He also gardened. We spent a lot of time in the garden helping him weed and gather the vegetables.

Scott Self, Jan Reese, Linda Self in the garden on Smith Road with Clements

Scott Self, Jan Reese, Linda Self and Joannie Reese with Clements

Clements and Ethel beside their home om Smith Road (1960)

Clements sitting on the back porch

Whenever I think of my grandfather, Clements Reese, this picture always pops up in my mind. He sat on the back porch a great deal as his health declined. Clements Reese died on July 14, 1966. I feel so fortunate to have had such a wonderful grandfather and grandmother. Their legacy lives on in their descendants. These memories are mine and from stories told to me all my life. I invite you to add your memories of this truly wonderful man.

*There's a humorous story behind this picture. Clements had a sister that was quite a gossip. She was always calling Ethel to tattle on the children.  So Uncle John decided to play a little joke on her. They rode up and down Smith Road with the "Just Married" sign on the side of the car. Sure enough, before they could get back home she had called Ethel to give her the shocking news! I'm sure my Uncle John got a big kick out of it!