Big Bro - Errett

The year is 1909. This letter is written to my grandfather Forest by his older brother Errett when they were both young men. Errett writes from Bowie, Tex., and Forest must be in or near Anadarko, Okla. In the second paragraph, Errett references "up there," (Anadarko is north of Bowie) and is the home of Forest's "girl," also referenced in Errett's letter. The girl is Mary B. Fitts, soon to be his wife and our grandmother.

As noted in the previous blog, Forest struck out on his own around 1907 traveling west to Tucson and soon after made his way back to the Texas/Oklahoma area.

A little history on brother Errett --Born in 1884, he was four years older than Forest with no living siblings in between. They have an older sister, Lucy, who is seven years older than Errett. Between Lucy and Errett, Sarah Sweet gave birth to four other children. None of them lived to be more than eight years old. Three of them died in 1883 reportedly from typhoid.

Errett married Flossie Hefton in 1906 in Sherman, Tex. At the writing of this letter, Errett and Flossie were likely living with his parents, Lewis and Sarah, in Bowie. In the previous blog's letter (dated Dec. 1908), Lewis mentions that Flossie was sick and Errett appears to be a source of information about town.

Errett and Flossie will eventually move to Sherman, Texas, as shown in the 1910 Census. Sherman is 79 miles due east from Bowie. He was a hostler for the railroad, a type of engineer that moves engines in and out of service facilities.

Bowie, Texas
Jan. 13 1909

Mr. F.A. Sweet
Dear Bro, We are having quite a spell now and I guess it is much worse up there than here.

   I told Ma Sunday that I had a letter from, and you said that your girl had quit school. you thot [sic] you knew why. Forest you ought to have seen ma's face, I couldn't keep from laughing at her.

   Forest, I saw Roy the other day, he said I could have Dick and Rubby to work for their feed. He said that he would write Cloud about Dick and he said he knew that Cloud would let me have him. I will go back to my indelible pencil. I believe it is the best on this paper.

   I want to know if you can lend me some money in a week or two. Now Forest when I say lend me money I mean it for I will pay you back as soon as I can and I feel sure that I can pay next fall, for I have already got a job. I didn't have to ask for it either, it was offered to me by Llass [?].

   My idea was to make a ? with pa and next fall take that job with Llass, and then hire a man to help in my place to pick cotton.

   I can make more running that engine than I can picking cotton is the reason I would take the job running it.

   I think Mr. Dobkins let me have groceries on fall time, but I will have to pay cash for feed.

   I will buy feed by the wagon load from the farm so I can get it cheaper. Roy said that he wanted me to feed lots of hay and course that is cheaper than corn.

   Forest let know at once and what or how much you can spare by the 25 of this month.

   Your Bro.

   Errett Sweet


Here are a few things I have gleaned from this letter and my research:

• Mr. Dobkins is James Dobkins, the grocer in Bowie. Probably a good man to be on good terms with.
• Dick and Rubby were perhaps a couple of horses. 
• Errett will eventually take that job running an engine, as the 1910 census shows he moves to Sherman, Texas, where he becomes a hostler. Sherman was served by five major railways.

Now, about that "girl" ...  As a young girl, Mary B. Fitts lived in Anadarko. I don't know how she and Forest met; but I do know that as of 1909, none of the Sweet family had met her yet. Forest and Mary maintained a "long distance" relationship as later letters will show that Forest moved around alot.

Grandma Sweet's name for Forest was "Sweet" and she always called him that, even after his death.

Forest Albert Sweet - Voices from the Past

Forest, my grandfather, was born in 1888 in Dallas County, Texas. He was one of 12 children, only six of whom survived to adulthood. 

By 1900 (and more likely in the early 1890s) the Sweet family moved to Mangum, Oklahoma. (See footnote.)  By 1908, they had moved to Bowie, Texas.

 At age 19, Forest left home and began his search for a life on his own, going first to Tucson, Ariz. By the end of 1908, he had worked his way back toward Texas and Oklahoma. 

I have been blessed to find a series of letters written to Forest by his father and mother, spanning from 1908 to 1910.  I have been so touched by their expressions of love and concern for this young adult son's welfare, both physical and spiritual. It is evident that faith and devotion to God and their church (the Church of Christ) was the foundation of their home and the rearing of their children. 

This is the first letter in the collection, dated December 28, 1908 from Bowie, Texas (Montague County - where, as it happens, Mary Fitts, Forest's future wife, was born). Take a look:

Bowie, Texas

Dec:28th, 1908

My dear boy Forest
    We received your letter yesterday. We are always glad to hear from you. I wish we could hear from you every day. I am glad to know that you make friends where you stay a while, who are glad to see you return again. You want to know why we had not written to you, it was because you said in your last letter from Shawnee, for us not to write until we hear

[pg.] 2

from you again, so we was waiting to hear from you. You talk like you might not stay there very long. Now unless you can get a job where there is a congregation, or decide to come home, I think you had better stay there. It is better to stick to a job when you have one, than to be changing from one place to another, unless you know you can get better wages, or 

[pg.] 3

better your condition. Spiritually, you are already acquainted there, and seem to be liked by those who know you, so don't change without a good reason. No we have not sold out, and I don't suppose we will soon. I will go ahead to make another crop here. I could get all of Mr. Howks land, but of course I cant tend it. Mr. & Mrs. Howk are gone to Alabama and 

[pg.] 4

may not be back until the 15th of January. He hasn't rented his land yet. Errett has quit the gin. He has been helping on Mr. Primers house the last 3 or 4 days. Mr. Primers house burned down, or [ref?] rather about two weeks ago, the top burned off and he is rebuilding. There is some talk of his Laundry starting up again pretty soon. I don't know what there 

[pg.] 5

is of it. Errett heard something about it, and was telling us. He may have written to you what he knows about it. Well it is time that I was out at work and as your ma will write some, I will quit. Oh, yes I forgot to say that Flossie is sick, has been for about 4 days. They think it is "Lagrippe". Write often as you can my son.

May God bless you, and keep you from all harm.

Your loving father, L.A. Sweet

An interesting fact that lends some perspective on the Sweet's surrounding community --- In 1907, the saloons and brothels were a source of much concern to the residents until an incident took place on March 27 when two marshals were shot down. The next day the residents of Bowie met and passed an ordinance banning saloons and brothels from the town. I can only imagine that my great-grandfather Lewis, a God-fearing Church of Christ minister, was front and center at that meeting and instrumental in taking down those saloons and brothels.

** The move to Mangum from Dallas by 1900 is confirmed by the 1900 census and Forest's youngest brother Hubert's birth records (born in Mangum, 1900). It is likely they moved there around 1890 based on my father's (Orville Sweet) recollection of his father's telling of their trek from Dallas to Mangum when he was about three years old. He said he could remember traveling in a covered wagon in the heat of a summer day and seeing the family dog panting as he walked in the shade of the wagon.