JAMES, FAY AND SALLIE (HOLLAND)

by Betty James Levine

Entry F220 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

Fay and Sallie James, July 6, 1904 wedding.

Fay and Sallie James, July 6, 1954. 50th Wedding Anniversary.

Fay and Sallie James Family, 1954. Betty, Eugene, Florence, Fay, Wesley,
Sallie, Neal, Iola, Harold and Clara.

Fay Bee James was born April 22, 1880 in
Grayson County, Virginia near Indepen-
dence. He was the second child of Stephen
and Virginia James. There were three sisters
and one brother - Enice Boyer, Lillian Starr,
Cora Boyer and Loy James. In 1880, his
parents, Enice and he moved to Palestine,
Texas. In 1888, the family came by covered
wagon to 9 miles north of Mullen, in Cherry
County. Fay attended school just northwest
of the family home a few steps. In 1901, Fay
took a homestead in Cherry County.

Sallie Dean Holland, was born March 7,
1882, in Grayson County, Texas near Potts-
boro. She was the only daughter of seven
children born to LaFayette and Isabelle
Holland. Sallie came to Mullen in 1903, to file
on a homestead. She lived with Hugh and
Sarah Boyer in Mullen until her marriage.
Fay and Sallie were married, July 6, 1904, in
the Arrow Hotel at Broken Bow, Nebraska.
Sallie hand-sewed her lovely wedding dress.
To this union, nine children were born. Clara
Isabelle, Vera Maude, Lela Iola, Harold
Edward, Neal Elliott, Wesley Enoch, Eugene
Wallace, Florence Joy and Betty Rose.

In 1919, the family moved to Mullen when
Clara was ready for high school. Fay and
Sallie ran a dairy, bought hogs to ship to a
larger market and shared their home with
several high school students. In the spring of
1927, they moved back to the home place in
Cherry County which they had purchased
from his father. They spent many long hours
to keep the ranch going. Blizzards such as the
1913 blizzard and the 1949 blizzard, took its
toll throughout the Sandhills. It was very
hard in the 1930's to find feed during the
drought. They always had a very large
garden, plenty of chickens to eat and enough
eggs to sell some, too. Milked around 35 cows,
for plenty of milk and cream to sell. Sallie,
with the help of the family, many summers
canned near 800 quarts of vegetables. Fay
still raised lots of hogs at this time. Many
prairie fires raged across the hills which
destroyed livestock and even the life of a
neighbor. Throughout most of these years,
they boarded the school-teachers for the
school across the valley - a mile by road. They
seemed to always have room for another at
the table if someone stopped by. They had
many family gatherings - especially, July 4th,
celebrations and near August 25th, a water-
melon feed, which Fay took much pride in
growing the best. There were "Sing-Songs"
throughout the neighborhood, where the
people gathered for some fun. They had a
very severe hail strom one summer and Fay,
with the boys, sacked up a number of gunny-
sacks full of hail and invited the families
around the neighborhood for ice cream and
cake. It was one more loss to cope with, but
Fay wasn't to be defeated! Some good had to
come from it! All nine of their children
graduated from the Mullen High School and
they helped several of them ot go on with
college if they desired. Sallie kept all her boys
in clean, starched and ironed white shirts
during their high school days.

In 1954, they celebrated their 50th anniver-
sary, on a day of 105 degree weather. In
Mullen, dinner was served to around 85
relatives who came to share their special day.
All of their immediate family were there as
well as their families of sisters and brothers.
Around 250 guests drove out to their ranch
for the reception. They always seemed
happiest on such special occasions.

Clara married Lafe Stoner. She and her
son, David live in Portland, Oregon. Clara is
retired. David spent many vacations with his
grandparents.

Vera lived to be 25. May 29, 1933, she
drown in the Middle Loup River, north of
Mullen. She had been a teacher after gradua-
tion from college. She is buried in the Virginia
Cemetery near the home ranch.

Iola married Estel Hamilton and they have
3 girls. Iola was a teacher until they retired.
Their oldest daughter called Fay, "Popeye",
when she began to talk and the remaining
grandchildren followed the tradition. They
reside in Alliance, Nebraska.

Harold was married to Dolores Bestol and
they had 3 girls. They moved to the home
ranch in 1955. He was active in rodeo sports
and worked on ranches including 12 years on
the Gudmundson Ranch near Whitman,
Nebraska. Harold died at the age of 56, on
October 9, 1967 from an accident on the
ranch. He is buried in the Cedarview Ceme-
tery.

Neal was married to Maxine Toombs. They
have a son and a daughter. They started a
meat packing and slaughter house at Kim-
ball, Nebraska in 1949, which progressed
until retirement.

Wesley married Maxine Lowe and they
have a son and a daughter. Wesley was with
the State of Nebraska Experimental Farm in
North Platte until later took over the well-
known Lowe's Store in Mullen until retire-
ment.

Eugene is married to Dorothy (Daily)
Olson and they have 3 boys and 2 girls. They
own the home ranch but live in Mullen since
one of the boys and his family now reside on
the ranch. Eugene is still active on the ranch.

Florence married Vergle Pew. They have
2 boys and 3 girls. They have ranched and
farmed mostly. They are now retired and
living in Nampa, Idaho.

Betty married Erik Levine. They have a
boy and a girl and two grandparents. They
are now retired and living in North Platte,
Nebraska. (See Levine).

Fay and Sallie purchased the Senk house
in Mullen and retired in August, 1956. Fay
felt more room was needed to serve dinners
to his increasing family of grandchildren and
began to have their kitchen made larger. He
did not see it completed, however. He died on
October 23, 1956 from a heart attack. Sallie
lived to be 99 years old. On her last birthday,
some of her children and grandchildren
helped her celebrate by serving ice cream and
cake at the Pioneer Memorial Rest Home in
Mullen. She died on August 16, 1981. Both
were buried in Cedarview Cemetery at Mul-
len, Nebraska.