Sixth Generation (Continued)
Family of Samuel HICKAM (24) & Harriet MAY

40. Ida Harriet HICKAM (Samuel5, Silas4, William (Billy)3, Richard2, William1), F. Born on May 11, 1886 in Carter County, Missouri. Ida Harriet died in Missouri on March 13, 1969; she was 82. Buried in McRone Cemetery, Carter County, MO. Religion: Member of Baptist Church and later Assembly of God Church.

Herbert Webb said his mother told him that 21 brothers came over from Ireland.
Ida was their only child. Laura (Webb) ALBERT said Ida only had half brothers & sisters. Ida said her family came from Ireland.
The following information and some of the above was provided by Inez (Leonard) Webb.
.....As far as the Hickam family, Inez heard Ida talk about them some. Ida talked as if they came from Murphysboro Ill. She always made sure everyone knew they came from Ireland. Ida would say, "We're the Hickams from Ireland." Bob Jr., born in 1922, doesn't remember anything about the Hickam family. He said the Hickams were already dead when he was born. I know Harriet May, Ida's mother was married to an Anthony, before she married Samuel Hickam. I don't know his name, but I remember some of the Anthony's that were Ida's brothers. Not long after Bob and I were married, we went to West Plains and I remember meeting Uncle Jack Anthony and his wife Tam. The most vivid memory of any of them I have is of Uncle Charlie and his wife Aunt Lulu. She had lost a leg some time before and I was amazed at how well she could get around. There is also a Frank Anthony. George Anthony is a cousin and most of them lived in and around Poplar Bluff. Ida was an only child.
.....1900 Carter Co., MO Johnson Twp census lists:
...........Hickam, Samuel - white - Birthdate 1844 - Age 56 - Birthplace: ILL
...........Harriet M. - wife - Dob - 5/1851 - age 49 - POB ILL
...........Ida - daughter - Dob 5/1886 age 14 - POB MO
J. W. Hickam of Murphysboro, IL. is a brother of Samuel Hickam.

On May 7, 1901 when Ida Harriet was 14, she married Robert Andrew WEBB, M, son of Ely (Eli) WEBB, M (May 12, 1845-May 8, 1916) & Tennessee (Kidania) PATTERSON, F (February 28, 1850-September 10, 1930), in Carter County, Missouri. Born on June 6, 1878 in Missouri. Robert Andrew died in Missouri on July 8, 1969; he was 91. Buried in McRone Cemetery, Carter County, MO. Occupation: Farmer. Religion: Member of Baptist Church and later Assembly of God Church.

Bob and Ida Webb family history
.....Robert Webb Sr. was born June, 6 1878 in Carter County, Missouri. Laura (Webb) Albert said Robert (Bob) lived in an area called "Little Black" (from the river of that name) just a few miles from Upper Ten Mile. Before he was married, he traveled around, working on farms and some of the big ranches in Kansas and in the west.
.....When Bob came back from the west, he met Ida Hickam while riding a horse through the "Cane Creek" area. They were married on July 7, 1901 and settled in Grandin, Missouri. Robert worked for the Missouri Lumber & Mining Company in Grandin for as long as the timber mill was open.
.....On Sept. 25th 1909 the lumber mill at Grandin was closed. Grandin shrank from 3,000 to 265 population. (I have a picture of the Grandin school taken during the 1916-17 school year with Walter Webb (b. 1906) and all the other children in front of the school. So, I'm assuming the family still lived in Grandin in 1917. - Ken Raymer )
.....Herbert Webb said that his mother (Ida Harriet Hickam) inherited her parents' farm located near Poplar Bluff at Cane Creek in Butler County, Missouri when they died: Samuel Hickam, died:1910 and his wife Harriet (Anthony) Hickam died in 1914. Herbert also said that Samuel worked for the Missouri Mining Company and that Bob and Ida later sold the Hickam farm.
.....Sometime after 1917, Bob bought a farm on Upper Ten Mile near Hunter, Missouri where he farmed and ran a gristmill.
.....About 1925 Bob and Ida bought a restaurant and second hand store in Hunter, Missouri. Bob Jr. said it would have been heaven for someone who loves antiques. Both Bob Jr. and his father went to auction sales and bought things. He especially remembers the old Victorolas in the store. The records were cylindical shaped with horn style speakers and were spring wound.
.....Myrtle (Webb) Raymer (b.1909) said when she was a child, she waited tables in the restaurant in Hunter. Herbert said he stayed at the farm on Upper Ten Mile during the restaurant venture and Laura did the cooking. At the age of 10, a larger portion of work on the farm had to be done by Herbert (b.1916) when Walter Webb (b.1906), the oldest son, got married in 1925. This resulted in Herbert not getting to attend school very much. The children went to school at Hunter and Upper Ten Mile. Bob Jr. attended Hunter through the third grade, then went to Upper Ten Mile through the eighth grade. Because the boys had to work in the field, they could not attend school regularly. The girls were able to attend school more often, therefore were able to complete the 8th grade. Clarence also finished the 8th grade and William "Bill" went back to school in St. Louis and became a pattern maker.
.....The family ran the restaurant in Hunter until the timber ran out and the trains no longer ran through the town. Maxine was a baby, so the restaurant was probably operated between 1925-29. They may have left the restaurant for the birth of Marvin, and Laura thinks Marvin (b.1929) may have been born after the restaurant venture.
..... After the restaurant and second hand store closed in Hunter, Bob Webb still owned the farm on Upper Ten Mile and they lived there both before and after the restaurant. Around 1929 he also farmed 260 acres on Little Black which belonged to Bob's uncle Frank (Franklin Pierce) Webb (b.1855) and later Bob bought the property. During this time Bob farmed and continued to operate the gristmill. The farmers brought corn and wheat to be ground into corn meal and flour and would leave a portion of the corn and wheat as payment. He also ground cane and made sorghum and molasses that was put into big barrels. Ida told Inez (Leonard) Webb, "Don't ever learn anything new if you don't want it to become your job. Bob always wanted me to learn how to grind corn and flour on the gristmill. I didn't want to, but I learned. I had enough to do without grinding grain for people. One day the men were all gone and a man came and talked me into grinding some corn for him. I was just too honest and I told Bob about it. After that day, the job was mine".
.....The Webbs didn't have electricity or indoor plumbing. In the 1930's when the Rural Electricity Act was passed, the electric lines were run down the county highways. It was up to the farmers to pay the cost of running the line from the highway to their houses. Bob didn't see the need for electricity and wouldn't pay to have the line run six miles to his house.
.....The family owned a pump organ, on which Laura taught herself to play hymns. Myrtle tells of the older girls taking piano lessons (on the pump organ) and that she would peek around the door and later try to play the organ herself. She somewhat learned one song "The Sweet Bye and Bye".
.....Kenneth Raymer remembers right after the house burned in the mid 1940's that our family went down to the Upper Ten Mile property and the Webb family was living in a old leaky garage next to the burned house. They were able to save the pump organ from the fire, but not much else. Laura was then married and living in St. Louis and she remembers that Brother Hite loaned the Webbs some beds at this time. Walter drove his truck from the farm to St. Louis to pick them up and Laura rode with Walter back to the highway to show him the way out of St. Louis. Walter lived in a house owned by his father Bob on a corner of the property on Upper Ten Mile. After the fire, this house was moved to the location of the burned house where the family then continued to live.
.....In the late 1940's when Bob was in his early 70's, the Upper Ten Mile property was sold and Bob and Ida moved to a house in Hunter, Missouri. They still had no electricity, even though it now ran right in front of the house, because Bob still didn't see the need. There was a battery powered radio that was powered by a car battery and used only once a day at evening.
.....Many family members remember the 4th of July celebrations when all the children and grandchildren would visit. Family members would shoot off rockets and fire crackers in front of the house. Once Robert Jr. set off a rocket that went under Calvin Albert's new car and sparks were flying all under the car. Calvin almost had a heart attack getting the car moved, thinking it might explode.
.....In the early 1950's when Bob was in his late 70's or early 80's, Bob and Ida moved to De Soto, Missouri near St. Louis. They lived in a tool shed (smaller building) while the house was being finished. Bob Jr. built the house with the help of some of the other boys. Betty (Raymer) Riechers remembers the shed being full of equipment, especially a GREAT BIG scale. Ida would can fruit and vegetables in the basement and would also make hominy and bake her own bread. Bob grew corn, watermelon, yellow and red cantaloupes, raised his own chickens and had one or two horses. Bob said he had to have horses to plow the land to raise corn to feed the horses. Everyone tried to tell him if he got rid of the horses he wouldn't need the corn to feed them in the first place. I just think Bob could not sit still and wanted something to do to feel useful. He felt useful when he was working, and I never knew a harder working person in my life. The grandchildren would sometimes be allowed to shoot a rifle at targets while others threw horse shoes. There were peach trees in the yard and homemade peach ice cream was made in a hand cranked ice cream maker, usually cranked by the grandchildren. Bob had several surgeries for skin cancer on his ear when he was living in De Soto. Myrtle would go get him and take him to Barnes Hospital in St. Louis to have the surgeries. The doctor said it was skin cancer from the sun. The cancer progressed and went into his head and neck and this is what eventually killed him.
.....Bob sold the De Soto property in the mid 1960's when he was in his late 80's. He sold part of it to the highway department for a highway easement, and they moved to Ellsinore, Missouri and bought the Old Brown house. Myrtle made the house in Ellsinore livable. They had lots of farm tools stored in the garage and Bob didn't want to get rid of them. I guess he thought he might still need them again someday. Finally, after a few years, there was a sale of their property and tools and Myrtle got them an apartment in St. Louis. Bob and Ida lived in a nursing home in St. Louis in their last years. Bob had cancer on his ears and head and later had colon cancer when he was 90 years old. Ida (Hickam) Webb had kidney failure and died on March 13, 1969, age 82. Robert Andrew Webb died on July 8, 1969, age 91.

In the 1880 Carter County, MO census Robert Andrew Webb is listed as age 2 born in MO. father born in MO. mother born in Ala.
The 1910 census in Carter County, MO. Johnson Twp. District 14 shows:
#182..Webb, Robert A . Head ....... 31 ........ Mo .... US .... Tn
...........Ida ................. wife ... 24(5/4) .... Mo .... IL ...... IL
...........Gertrude A ....... dau ........ 5 ......... Mo .... Mo .... Mo
...........Walter F .......... son ........ 4 .......... Mo .... Mo .... Mo
...........Pearl M ........... dau ........ 3 .......... Mo .... Mo .... Mo
...........Myrtle B ......... dau ........ 6mo ...... Mo .... Mo .... Mo

The following information and some of the above was provided by Inez (Leonard) Webb.
.....I suppose since people were still settling new land and building during the late 1800's and early 1900's, the most important thing to most fathers was,"where are we going to live and what are we going to eat?" I know the girl's married young and the boy's seldom finished more than the eighth grade. Bob Jr. and Inez married when she was fifteen and he was nineteen. Inez's sister Edna was only fourteen when she married Bill "Willie" Webb.
.....This story comes from a video that was put out by Missouri Conservation Dept. It's about The Tolliver pond and the city of Grandin in the 1830's. Robert Webb Sr. worked at the big mill. The mill was started by a company called "Missouri Lumber & Mining Company. A group from Pennsylvania purchased 300 acres in Carter--Ripley--Butler and Shannon Counties. They paid $1.00 an acre for the land. A man named, John Barber White persuaded the Railroad companies to run trains from Willow Springs through Grandin and Tolliver pond. White purchased iron railings to make railroad sidings. The big mill began to work in 1889 in the town of Lakewood, which was the former name of Grandin. Beaver Dam Rosewood was what they called the lumber from Grandin.
.....On the other side of Grandin was where they built the small mill. So called because it's mill was smaller. A planing mill, circular saw, shingle mill and 30 warehouses completed the site. They moved about 90 carloads a day. Logs were floated down stream on Current River, headed for Grandin. 200 horses and mules were used to move the trees to the mills at Grandin. Later the steam trains replaced the horses and mules. Ties were shipped to Van Buren and Chickopee from Grandin. They floated ties upstream on rafts and at night they pulled into shore and stayed along the river banks.
.....By 1900 Grandin, had 3000 resident's. Of these, 1200 were mill workers.
The workers rented houses for $5 to $10.00 a month. This was in 1885. Men who were paid less rented small unpainted shacks for $2 to $2.50 monthly.
.....The town had men and women hotels. The men called the women's hotel, "Dear Park". The company ran the town. No one did anything without their approval. The lights in town had to be out by 10 p.m. They built four churches in town of different denominations. The company gave each church ten dollars a month if they held services four times a month.
.....There was a dispensary that doubled as a hospital. It had an operating room, three physicians and a pharmacist. The men who were married and had families paid one dollar and twenty five cents per month for health care. I guess this was one of the first insurance plans in Missouri. Malaria caused most of the illness back then. Schools were provided by the company. They had a grade school and three years of high school. There was also a fire department and gymnasium. There was even a town baseball team sponsored by the company. If anyone was found drinking, gambling, or carousing they stood in danger of losing their job.
.....Electric lights lit all the mills, which was unusual at the time because none of the houses had electricity. A weeks supply of groceries cost two dollars at the company store. The workers lived in tents in small camps. At one time, Inez (Leonard) Webb's family lived in one of those tents. The tents had wooden floors and they built wooden sides half way up to keep out the varmints. Over this was stretched the tent. It was dry and really not as bad as it sounds. Grandin workers were paid once a month in cash. Some of the others were not so lucky. They were paid with coupons and tokens and could only spend them at the company store.
.....A typical filling crew earned one dollar a day. A top loader earned two fifty a day. His job was considered more dangerous. A scaler was paid two fifty a day, because he was considered skilled. What the wood workers made daily was determined by what the scaler said they brought to him and he weighed for them. If a person used their own wagon and horses to move lumber they were paid one dollar and fifty cent's a day. Inez's father made seven dollars a week for all the time he worked for her uncle Jim Hinds in Arkansas. The mill whistle blew at four in the morning and ended eleven hours later. 200 men worked in the railroad department. Employees traveled by hand car and trams along the tracks. On special occasions, employees and families were taken to Van Buren by train for picnics and outings at Big Springs. By 1899 the lumber in Grandin was almost used up. By 1906 the work was winding down. On Sept. 25th 1909 the mill at Grandin was closed. Grandin shrank from 3000 to 265 population. It's less than that today.

Other Family Stories
Shivaree
.....Bob Webb Jr. and Inez were married at Ellsinore and spent their honeymoon night at the house on Upper Ten Mile. Imagine how embarrassing it was when the neighbors decided to shivaree them. In case you don't know what a shivaree is, it's when the neighbors decide to gather around the house and ring bells, beat on pots and pans and shoot off shot guns. After making all the noise they can they come inside and you have to feed them something or, the old story goes, they will take the groom out of town and not bring him back. Of course Ida had plenty of food so Bob got to stay. It's more embarrassing than anything.

The Bike Accident.
.....One fourth of July, Bob Jr. and Willie decided to race their bicycles down the hill in front of Bob and Ida's house. Bob Jr. was determined to win as usual, so he pedaled as fast as he could. Then he decided as an after thought to pull the chain that was on the handle bars. The chain came off and got tangled in the wheel and the bike turned over and fell on him. He had lots of scrapes and bruises. He could hardly work the next week.
Bob Jr. also remembers one fourth of July it was so cold that people wore their overcoats to the picnic. Ida and Bob Sr. always had a stand where they sold food and drinks.

The Hunt
.....Bob Jr. went hunting with Bill, Shorty and Herbert, and Bob accidentally shot Shorty's hat off his head. That ended that hunting trip. Another time Bob Jr. and Herbert went hunting. Bob had a double barrel shot gun. He pulled the trigger and it exploded in his face and blew him under the car. The explosion destroyed the gun and Bob's face was swollen and bruised for weeks.

The Fireworks
.....Bob Jr. was forever telling the children how not to light a firecracker. He always went into great detail. When he lit the firecracker it exploded immediately and burned his hand. I thought he would never do anything that foolish again but he did the next year. The only difference was the firecracker blew his hand and arm around to his back. That hurt. He never tried it again.
.....Another fireworks story concerns Bill. He lit a Roman candle and handed it to one of the kids and it backfired and burnt her. After that, the mothers refused to allow the children to participate in any of the fireworks.
.....As you can see, Bob and fireworks do not get along too well. Bob said what worried him about the firecracker that went under Calvin's car was that it might cause his gas tank to explode. Afterward you laugh, but when it was happening it wasn't a bit funny.

The U.F.O.
.....Everyone swears that this really happened. It was about the 1930. It happened on the Upper Ten Mile property when Bob Jr. was 9 years old. The family was in bed and it was in the middle of the night. They were awakened by a bright round light that shone through the windows of the house. They all crowded around the window and watched as a large item that was completely covered with lights sat down in the field across from the house. The person or whoever it was appeared to be working on the machine. Bob Jr. said he could not see any outline for the brightness of the lights. They stood and watched it all night. In the morning, just as the darkness was leaving, but the moon was still out, the machine moved jerkily up into the sky and disappeared behind the moon. Bob Webb Sr. told them never to tell anyone about what they had seen. He said no one would believe it happened and they would just call them crazy. He was a smart man, because back then it would never have been accepted as it is today. Bob Jr. said Herbert and Shorty were there at the time and maybe Maxine.

They had the following children:
60 i. Gertrude Asille, F (1904-1988)
61 ii. Walter Franklin, M (1906-1997)
iii. Pearl May, F. Born on November 23, 1907. Pearl May died on June 16, 1961; she was 53.
Laura (Webb) Albert said her mother wanted to name her Pearly, bit Laura doesn't think that name made it to the birth certificate.
Pearl M. is listed in the 1910 Carter County, MO census. Lived in St. Louis, MO.
Earl Winters Jr. was a son of Earl Sr. previous marrage. Pearl had no children.

Pearl May married Earl WINTERS, M.
62 iv. Myrtle Bell, F (1909-1998)
v. Ethel Marie, F. Born on October 3, 1911.
Ethel Marie married Theodore (Tate) KRIEDER, M.
63 vi. Laura, F (1914-)
64 vii. Herbert Andrew, M (1916-2001)
65 viii. William (Willie) Samuel, M (1918-1994)
ix. Edna, F. Born on April 15, 1920. Edna died on October 5, 1921; she was 1. Buried in McRone Cemetery, Carter County, MO.
Laura (Webb) Albert said Edna became sick after playing in the water trough in the cold October weather. Myrtle (Webb) Raymer said Edna had the croup. (In one form of severe croup, which has a bacterial rather than a viral cause, the child's airway may swell and start to close. This condition can be fatal.) Laura said when Edna was about to die, her father would raise and lower her arms to keep her breathing. He sent one of the older children to the school to tell the Webb children to come home to say good-bye to Edna. Each child filed by her bed and said good-bye. Bob Webb then stopped pumping her arms up and down and put Edna's arms at her side. She then died.
66 x. Robert Andrew, M (1922-)
67 xi. Clarence Albert, M (1924-)
68 xii. Marion Maxine, F (1926-)
69 xiii. Marvin Douglas, M (1929-)

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