Charles Bond was the second born of the ten children born to Benjamin Moses and Nora Bond. He was the oldest of the four boys and mixed in between were six sisters. All the siblings called him Charlie, or Bud, but all of his little nieces and nephews called him Uncle Buddy. Charlie was a happy, laid back man, very cheerful and full of mischief. Nearly everyone who remembered Charlie had a funny story to tell about him.
There was always laughter when they shared their memory. In their early years the family lived in Bonham, Texas where Grace was born in 1899, Charlie in 1901 and Jewel in 1903. Then they moved to Tishomingo, Oklahoma for a while. Josephine (1906), Hazel (1908), Bennie (1910), Lewis (1912 and Jackie (1915) were all born there. Farming wasn’t going well by
then. In fact, the family lost their farm and their dad had to begin farming for other people. In 1914 they were
raising cotton for a Mr. Morgan in Pontotoc, Oklahoma. A girl, Bertha, was born there who did not live long.
Some time after that they returned to Texas. In 1918 the youngest girl, Lena, was born in Bagwell, Texas.
Charlie didn’t care for his middle name of Monroe, so when he became about eighteen years of age he
changed his name to Steven Charles. However, to his family and friends he always remained Charlie.
Charlie left home as a young man, sometime after 1920, and went out West to work. In 1926 he was
working on a ranch in Casper, Wyoming as a bronco buster among many other things and the rest of the
family was now living in Clarksville, Texas. My mother, Jackie, said Charlie also did a few stints as a double
for the Cowboy actor, Tom Mix, in a few of his movies. Evidently, he was quite adventurous as well as a
good rider. There is a picture of him, taken in 1926, when he was about 25 years old, fishing with a friend
on Trapper Lake in Colorado. There is also a couple of photos of him dressed in his cowboy outfit. He made
quite a handsome cowboy. While Charlie was out West he married Hannah Cripps from Iroquois, South
Dakota.
There are three letters from Charlie that he wrote May 7, 1926 from Casper, Wyoming to his father,
mother and brother, Jewel, in Clarksville. These letters are a treasure and express the true essence of the kind
of man Charlie Bond really was. Evidently, Grandmama had been quite sick and she had written to him
requesting that he come home. Charlie not only answered her letter but wrote back to his dad and brother as
well.
He said to his dad that although he was very worried about his mother he could not come for at least
a month. He said that a bronc had fallen on him and he was all crippled up. The way he said it was, “Dad,
a horse fell on me and rolled down the hill, plum over me and almost mashed my guts out of me. I didn’t
think I was hurt much at first so I got back on another one and he bucked for a quarter of a mile with me. I
thought he would never stop and when I got off of him I was spitting blood in a stream. I had to be brought
into town to a doc and the boss hired another man to replace me.” Charlie said he thought he was better now
and he would get another job in a couple of days and after he had worked five or six weeks to get enough
money he would come home. He hoped and prayed that his mother was not as bad off as his dad thought she
was. Things didn’t happen fast in those days and it would take money to get from Wyoming to Texas, but
I suspect he wasn’t as well as he said.
Along with that letter to his dad Charlie also wrote to his mother on the same day. He tells her that he
would come home at once but he is all crippled up from a horse falling on him and the boss had hired another
man in his place while he was ill. He is just waiting to gain a little strength before going back to work. He
will be home in six weeks if nothing else happens to him. This letter is very sweet as he speaks kindly to his
mother and assures her that he is still a Godly man. He calls her his darling mother and says, “Now mother,
don’t you worry any about me, for I am entirely well, just a little weak from being in bed, but I’m up all the
time now. Mother, I do hope you are better by now and maybe you are, for I have been praying for you every
day since I got your letter. No Mother, I do not drink whiskey at all, or gamble either, so you don’t need to
worry any at all.” He wishes he was at home with her and assures her he will be home in five or six weeks.
This big 25 year old man signs his letter, From your loving little boy C. M. Bond.
Jewel must have sent Charlie a letter in with Grandmama’s, therefore he writes Jewel a letter as well.
He says, “Dear Brother, I was surely glad to get your letter and also glad that you are home with mother for
she would be so lonely with both of us gone from home. Jewel you must be very good to mother, which I
know you will and I will soon be home and we can both be good to her.” He says, “I have been gone from
home almost three years and that is a long time to be away from my mother.” Again he repeats that he is
going to work five or six weeks and will come home. He asks him to write to him real soon. These letters are
written in very large handwriting as Charlie had bad eyesight. When Grandmama wrote to him she also used
large handwriting. I’m sure that he did go home for a while soon after that to see his mother and then returned
to the West some time later.
In 1927 the family moved to West Columbia, Texas and became Truck Farmers. They said
Grandmama felt better living in this area of Texas. However, in 1930 their dad became ill with diabetes.
There wasn’t much they could do for that in those years except diet. Charlie and Jewel both came home that
year to help out with the farm and be near the family. Charlie worked as a mechanic in a garage and Hannah
stayed with her parents in South Dakota. By this time Grace, Josephine and Hazel had married. Hazel and
John were also with the family. Unfortunately, their dad died in June of that year from diabetes
complications. After their dad’s death Charlie returned to the West and for a while Lewis ran the farm, but
eventually the family moved farther South. Jewel looked for farm work around Texas and Oklahoma.
By 1934 Grace lived in Highlands, Hazel lived in La Porte, not far from there. Josephine lived near
Liberty, Texas. After a while she and Leonard moved to Bay City, Texas. Jackie married in 1936. and she
and her husband went to Chicago for a while, then returned in September 1937 to South Texas. Lewis had
also married in 1936 and was living in Clifton, in Galveston County, not far from Hazel and Grace.
Grandmama and Lena took turns staying with all of them. Then Lena stayed with Grace and attended Robert
E. Lee High School in Baytown. There was a refinery on the coast at Texas city and Lewis worked there for
a while until he hurt his hand. After that he became a carpenter.
Charlie was at home at home for Christmas in 1936. He is in the family photo taken at Christmas
time and he is the only one that is laughing. Jewel was working on a ranch in Granada, Colorado that year,
not too far from where Charlie was. He must have spent time a lot of time with Charlie while he was out
there. He mentions in his letter that Charlie is going fishing with his friend, Buck.
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| Charlie (on right) and friend Fred Buckner in Wyoming |
The next letter I have from Charlie is written October 3, 1937, also from Casper, Wyoming. This
letter was written to “mother and all.” It was sent in answer to the news that Jewel had been killed. Jewel had
died by falling off the back of a truck that September 26, while hitchhiking through Houston on his way to
see his mother in Highlands. This letter has a totally different tone, of course, but also shows a dear side of
Charlie and is evidence that he loved his mother and his brother.
In this letter Charlie says, “Just a few lines on this lonely old Sunday. I just cant get over poor little
old Jewel going like he did. Mama, it may make you feel better to know this but for the past two years
Hannah and I noticed that Jewel read his bible continuously and said his prayers night and morning. We
noticed that he said grace before he ate his meals. I feel sure he is at rest. Yet it is hard to think of him going
like that.” He continues, “I surely would like to have a letter from you. I feel a lot better than I have for years.
My eyes are a lot better too and I weigh 162 lbs.” “I have been doing some work for the widow of an old
friend of mine whose place is going to rock. In turn she is fitting me up with good heavy winter clothes and
a bed roll so I might not freeze when I go out to work which will be this next week.” He ends with Love, to
all. Sadly, the oldest sibling, Grace, died just a year after Jewel in August of 1938 with a lung infection.
I believe Charlie returned to live near his mother not too long after that. He must have moved to
Clifton, Texas (later renamed Bacliff) in about 1938 or 1939. Jackie and Jiggs had settled in Clifton near Grandmama and Lewis. There is a photo of Charlie pulling Joan in a wagon. She was born in 1937 and she
was about two years old. He is listed on the 1940 Census record and he and Hannah are members of the Bayshore Friends Church in 1942.
I was born in 1942. My memories of Uncle Buddy are from when I was about three to six years old, but
I remember him distinctly. Charlie was about fourteen years older than my mother, Jackie, yet to me they
seemed to be very close. I remember him coming to see mama often and they would stand and talk out in the
back yard under the shade of the trees on hot summer days. Mama said he would tease me when I was very
small and I’d say, “Shut up, Unca Buddy” and he thought that was cute. The reason I remember him so well
is probably because he paid so much attention to his little nieces and nephews. He teased us, gave us nickels
and bought us ice cream cones. Charlie and Hannah had no children. Maybe that is why he paid us so much
attention but I really believe that he just liked us kids.
Mama’s favorite story that she told me about Charlie was about the time he taught my sister Joan a song
to sing when she went to church. Joan was only about three or four years old and she learned to sing it well.
Mama always laughed when she told the story. The song was a cute little rhyme, “Horsie keep your tail up,
Horsie keep your tail up, Keep the sun out of my eyes.” The problem wasn’t that Joan sang it in church but
that she continued with it after everyone else stopped singing. I know Uncle Buddy got a bang out of hearing
about that episode. He did save Joan’s life once when they were out on a pier down on the bay. Joan fell off
the pier and before anyone could make a move Charlie promptly jumped into the water and pulled her out.
Daddy also told me several things about Charlie. He smiled as he told about the time his own car
wouldn’t start and he was about to be late for work. He walked down to Charlie’s house and asked if he
would bring his truck and help him get it started. Charlie said, "Sure, but not til after we have had a cup of
coffee." There was nothing to do but have a cup and wait til Charlie was ready to go, late or not.
Charlie loved a good joke. He liked to talk about how poor they were during the depression and how the
family only had one slice of bacon to eat. Therefore they tied a string on it before swallowing so they could
all share....
He worked with sheep for a while. They were kept on an island out in the bay. Many ranchers made use
of these little pieces of land. Daddy would go out and help him shear the wool off the sheep. He said that
while he held the sheep Charlie would shear one in about 20 minutes and all the wool came off in one piece.
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| Charlie and Hannah |
There was a period of time when mama and several of her siblings caught TB. Mama said they caught
it from each other because they would kiss hello. They stopped doing that and as a child I was taught not to
kiss as a manner of greeting. Mama talked to us a lot about germs in fact, stressing caution about eating or
drinking after others. In 1936 her sister Josephine’s husband, Leonard, had died from TB. I’m guessing that
Charlie must have had TB in about 1944 or 1945. He and Hannah both had it. At some time Hannah also had
polio.
Charlie had to go away to stay in a hospital like they did in those days. Mama told me that she would
take a bus to go up and see him. There was a TB hospital in San Angelo, Texas. They didn’t know yet that
cigarettes were harmful and ironically she would take him a carton each time she went. In 1946 when I was
about four years old Jackie also got TB and she had to go to that same hospital for a while. After about two
months she got up and came home. She couldn’t stand being away from her family so she had to rest at home.
I remember the day she arrived home. She went straight to bed as the bus ride was very tiring. It was about
this time that Hannah divorced Charlie and took all his furniture.
In spite of being a laid back man and having such a sense of humor I suspect that Charlie was also an
intelligent man because he owned and operated his own business and owned a couple of houses. In April
1946 he purchased a 1 1/2 ton flat bed truck along with house moving equipment from Mr. Louie
Scarborough in Clifton. For the next several years he moved houses for a living. He purchased this for
1027.20 cents and paid it out at 85.60 a month for over a year. He must have done pretty well at it because
he completely paid out his mortgage on the equipment and that was quite a bit of money for that time. It was
also very heavy labor which required some precision and thinking.
I know that he owned a house on Second Street and Grandmama lived with him sometimes because I
spent the night with her there once. But daddy said that he and mama lived there first and they traded the house to Uncle Buddy for the house and property on Thirteenth Street where I grew up. There were three lots
behind our house with another little house back there. Aunt Lemie lived there for a while with Diana and
Molly while Uncle Herbert was in the Navy. Molly was born while they lived there.
I guess Uncle Buddy kept ownership of that house because one day he came and put it up on wheels and
moved it around the side of our house over to the property across the street from us. When he got the house
half way around our house he left it sitting on the prairie for a bit while he and mama and daddy and Aunt
Lemie went into the house to drink coffee. While it was parked there I crawled up into the house which now
had the back wall out, convincing Diana and Molly to join me. I was always a daring child.We just sat there
feeling like we were very brave. For most of my life one of the big cement wheels he used in his work laid
at the back corner of our yard.
In December of 1949 Grandmama wrote to Charlie from West Texas where she was visiting Hazel. She
said she was coming home soon and then he would have his "worrywart" back. They were always very close.
She says to tell Ann hello for her. After his divorce Charlie had become friends with a lady named Ann, who
was a school teacher who lived on the bay. She had a pier behind her house where Mama and daddy, Joan
and I, would all go there to swim with her and Uncle Buddy. He was very happy.
Unfortunately, in January 1949, Charlie died quite suddenly while visiting her one evening. I don’t
think anyone knew that he had such a serious heart problem. Ann told the family that he developed a pain
in his chest. He walked over to her sofa and lay down and died very quickly. He was only 48 years old. As
it turned out he had arteriosclerosis and developed a coronary thrombosis. Grandmama received many
sympathy letters after Charlie died. One person who claimed he was like a brother said that he was such a
kind man, always helping people out. They mention that he had a spell with his heart while he was in the
hospital at San Angelo and must not have recovered from it. I hate to think of him doing something like
moving houses with a bad heart and a TB scar on his lung.
I was only six years old at the time but I remember Uncle Lewis coming to our house to tell us that
he had died. Mama burst into tears. She was heart broken. It was a sad time for the whole family. I remember
mama crying at the funeral. The only siblings left after that were Josephine, Hazel, Lewis, Jackie and Lena.
Grandmama had lost five of her children. She died from breast cancer three years after Charlie’s death. I
believe that when Charlie Bond died, he took a lot of the family’s joy with him. He was the one who kept
them all laughing. However, he also left many fond memories which made everyone smile when they thought of him. I’m 75 years old now but I still feel the loss of Uncle Buddy.
My husband and I laugh often about this story. He’s convinced my family must think I went way
too far through the cane patch! I don’t think that’s true (most all the time, anyway). 
My husband and I laugh often about this story. He’s convinced my family must think I went way
too far through the cane patch! I don’t think that’s true (most all the time, anyway). 
