Christine Pearl Aldred
Their only child, Christine Pearl Aldred, was born on 20 March 1924. She was the sunshine in their lives during the growing ecomonic crisis. Christine was known as the small town "Shirley Temple". With her blond girls, dimpled smile, and beautiful singing voice, she was admired by all of the local towns people.
Christine would spend much of her early growing up years on the Chapman family farm with her beloved grandparents, Andrew Jackson Chapman and Delia Pearl Lackey.
Andrew and Delia welcomed all four of their daughters and their families to the farm whenever needed during the Great Depression. It was a time of working together to provide for the needs of each and every one.
The husbands would leave early every Monday to search for work. "Nappy" did everything from painting a bridge to becoming a barber. No work was beneath the men for it was important for the survival of their families. The men would return late on Saturday to spend the time they could with their families.
On the farm, the Chapman daughters helped in the home, in the gardens, and with the annimals. Even the young cousins had their own responsiblities of gathering eggs, feeding the chickens, and weeding the gardens.
In the spring, they would buy a pair of white shoes. In the fall, they would buy black shoe polish to cover the white. As the soles of the shoes became worn, thin, and riddled with holes, they would line the insides of the shoes with cardboard to keep out the rain and snow.
Regardless of how poor the families were, each one used their talents to help the family. Christine's mother, Essie, was a seamstress. She could take any kind of cloth and make something beautiful. She loved to sew for the entire family. (I heard as a child from the Pulaski elmentary school teacher, Mrs. M D Hoffner, that Christine was always the best dressed child at school because of the dresses her mother made her.)
The Chapman family were active in their little church snuggled on the side of Rose Hill in Pulaski, Illinois. The Pulaski Christian Church had a small congregation and became a close church family. The dirt and gravel country roads made the travel time for the farm families from the more remote areas a long and dusty journey to attend the Sunday morning meetings. To accomodate these families and to enjoy the fellowship of their church members, many Sundays would find the congregation sharing a potluck dinner in the church basement or having a picnic when the weather would allow. Vacation Bible School was always open to every child in the community.
The Chapman family was also active in the plays and the local talents shows at the community center in Villa Ridge. During the time before television or the internet, the activies at the community center were one of the few entertainments in the area and a highlight in the often bleak lives of people in all of the neighboring communties. (The Chapman sisters were all talented singers and dancers. Christine's mother, Essie was such a gifted actress that she once received a write up in a local paper.) Dances and other events and activities were also held at the community center and were always well attended by all of the families in the surrounding area.
Christine was also well loved by her paternal grandparents, Alfred Wesley Aldred and Katherine Elizabeth Stoddard. Their beautiful two story home in Pulaski was turned into a boarding house to provide income so that they could survive during those lean years. For Katherine, a member of the wealthy and prominent Stoddard family of New York, this was a very difficult adjustment. But, regardless of the amount of hard work required or number of boarders, they always made time for Christine and there was always a special place in the home for their granddaughter.
January of 1937 was a very difficult one for many people in the tri state area. The temperatures were frigid. Sleet and snow fell faster and harder than anyone could remember. Soon, the Ohio River's freezing waters overflowed the banks and flood water poured into the already sodden land of Southern Illinois. Christine never forgot that year and the hardships that befell the farmers. Their fields were covered with ice, snow, mud, and the flood waters. The only way to leave the Chapman farm was by boat.
As the years progressed and the economic tides turned for the better, "Nappy" was able to find steady work and provided a home for Essie and Christine in Pulaski.
However, "Nappy" had a drinking problem. When he was not drinking, "Nappy" was handsome, dashing, and well liked. He was known as one of the most intelligent, congenial, and gentlemanly men that anyone could hope to meet. But, when he was drinking, he would often disappear and gamble away all of their money. There were also rumors of other women.
Before Christine was a teenager, her mother could no longer hide the truth. As any sensitive young child would be, Christine was often humiliated by the whispered innuendoes and knowing smirks of local people. She knew that her father was well liked and respected by all when he was not drinking (sometimes for years) but a source of embarassment during his drinking binges and even ridicule on the one occasion that he became so drunk that he was swindled out of their family farm.
Druing those difficult periods, Essie would work at any job that she could find from telephone operator to running her own second hand store. No matter how difficult times might be or how long the hours she worked, Essie would always be sure that her only child was loved and protected and that Christine had at least the basic things that she could provide.
Chapman Family, 1910
Essie, Bessie, Andrew, Juanita, Delia
