Clarence Bradley, his wife Nell Jacobs Bradley and children Clara, Gerald and Jimmy at Canoe, Alabama.
There are many surnames which exist on the old census and newspaper rolls for Canoe, Alabama which no longer have living representatives in the Canoe area. Stackhouse, Kendrick, McCants and others just to name a few. The Jacobs family settled in Canoe early in the last century and below is a short extract of their history as provided by Mr. David Bethea of Mississippi.
Luther Lee Jacobs was born on March 17, 1862 in Coffee County, Alabama. He met Eula Virginia McGhee, who was the daughter of John L. and Lutricia McGhee, and the two married.
The couple had several children: Arthur Jacobs-11/27/1900; Nellie Jacobs-4/12/1903; Leoma Louise Jacobs 5/7/1909; an unnamed daughter who died shortly after birth; Noah Jacobs 2/26/1917 and Roman Jacobs 10/28/1918.
After several moves the family settled in Canoe, Alabama in 1924. Mr. Jacobs tenant farmed on the Arthur Hall place for one year.
Thereafter they moved onto the Buster Hall place and farmed from 1925-1926. A bad storm came through in 1926 and devasted the crops. It was bad everywhere that year in that family stories survive of my grandfather, Fred McKinley and his older sons desperately picking cotton in the 1926 Hurricane as they staged a brave but futile effort against the storm to save what had been projected as a bumper cotton harvest for them in Monroe County, Alabama but which was destroyed by the hurricane.
After this, the family moved on to the Rowell place, Nell Jacobs married Clarence Bradley, brother of long time Canoe storekeeper/owner Mrs. Rosa Nell Bradley Baker after the family moved onto the Rowell place around 1927.
In January 1932 the family moved back onto the Myrick place and executed a five-year lease on the property. Tennant farming, farming on halves and share-cropping (all very similar) often saw farm families move from place to place to acquire richer lands or a better house for their families.
Luther Lee Jacobs took sick with pneumonia and kidney disease the second week of August, 1933. He died a short time later August 19, 1933. The men of the neighborhood came in and shaved and prepared the deceased Jacobs and dressed him in a good shirt and laid him out for the wake. He died just past midnight and on the 21st of August 1933 was taken to the Union Cemetery in McCullough where he was buried near Mrs. McGhee.
The Jacob family stayed on the Myrick place and continued to work the farm until January 1936 when they moved to Monroe County to work a farm known as the Holloway place near Monroeville. After being there about two months, a young Noah Jacobs let to join the Civilian Conservation Corps. Thereafter his mother and brothers moved into Monroeville and bought a lot in town.
The story of Canoe Station, Alabama is one of hard work and happiness and sometimes sprinkled with tragedy and loss. The people who left their sweat and blood upon the fields as their mules turned the soil, left a legacy for us all to ponder in our thoughts.
The book Shadows and Dust III: Legacies is now available for purchase. The hidden history of our area is documented through ten years of All Things Southern articles. Learn about the Canoe Highlands Colony, the ghost town of Falco, Alabama as well the forgotten history of the last great act in the drama that was the War Between the States as Union troops marched through the area. Shadows and Dust III is available online at Lulu publishing.com or by sending $35 (this includes shipping-the book cost without shipping is $30) to Kevin McKinley at PO Box 579 Atmore, AL 36054. Also available: Shadows and Dust I and II and Canoe: History of A Southern Town Shadows and Dust I and II and the Canoe book are available for $20 each
