| Notes |
- Mary Helen Haines notes:
Lola was named for Lola Truss Biard, a friend of older sister Bettie. According to Lola, the parents ran out of ideas for names when they got down to the last children, and let the older children help pick the names.
Our GrandLola was the glue behind all the family reunions and get-togethers. She documented everything and collected everything that had news of family members and friends of family. She maintained a keen interest in Ladonia and its doings. Her ultimate enterprise was the publication of her McFarland family book that contained the McFarland family history. Copies of the "green book," so named for its cover, were distributed to all family members, and given to various libraries, such as Dallas and Houston. I often find it quoted by researchers as a source.
GrandLola was the best seamtress and craftsman. For Easter she would sew 3 frilly, girly, outfits for my sisters and me. She knitted sweaters, afghans, made decoupage containers, Christmas tree-skirts, etc. She even made her own kitchen wall-paper out of Currier and Ives prints she collected. I remember spending lots of time looking at all the interesting details of the prints on her wall while we were waiting for GrandLola and Granddaddy's special breakfast of waffles and bacon--the kind made from scratch, remember?
From the Dallas Morning News wedding announcement section: Oct. 28, 1918, p. 5. "Miss Lola McFarland and Capt. Joe M. Hill were married on Oct. 24 at the home of the bride's sister, Mrs. H.E. Fuller, Ladonia, Texas. The marriage service was read by the Rev. J. William Stephens, former pastor of the First Christian Church of Ladonia. Only the immediate relatives and a few intimate friends were present. The bride is the youngest daughter of the late J. F. and Mrs. Mary J. McFarland and a sister of S.J. McFarland and Mrs. Wm. M. Williams of Dallas. She is a graduate of Texas Christian University. Captain Hill is the son of Mrs. W.R. Hill of Wolfe City and a brother of Mrs. W.C. Frost of Dallas. He received degrees from both academic and law departments of the University of Texas in the class of 1916. He was commissioned First Lieutenant at the second officers' training camp at Leon Springs, and received his Captaincy at Camp Dix, N.J. Before entering the service, Captain Hill was connected with the legal department of the M., K. & T. Railway, with headquarters at Muskogee. Captain and Mrs. Hill left immediately for Boston, where Captain Hill is now stationed.
This is a letter she wrote her brother Jim who had just gone overseas in WW I.
Nov. 9, 1918 Letter to Jim from sister Lola from Ayer, Massachusetts
Dearest old Jim boy-
Can you realize that here I am, Mrs. Joe Hill in old New England-with the skies all full of snow. You aren't surprised at my being married, I know, because we the same as told you so in the night letter we sent just before you sailed. I wished so for you the day of the wedding. Your good old hearty laugh would have been a good match for the Hill family. The Mother, Edna, Mag, Bess and Mr. Hopkins were all there. We had it at Betsy's at 3:30 Thursday PM Oct. 24. Bro. Stephens read a beautiful ceremony. Ethel played the March and also played "Perfect Day" thru out the ceremony. I wore my brown travelling suit, slippers, hat and veil, and a brown fox fur. My husband looked quite handsome in his uniform. When the girls cut the cake, Ethel cut the ring, Florine the thimble, and Lila the dime.* Lila and Mildred served punch. Of course the train was late- We went on to Dallas and stayed at the Adolphus. Saw Mr. and Mrs. Frost the next morning. We left at 9:30. Came by St. Louis and Philadelphia to New York. While in the City, my thoughts certainly wandered to you and Gordon. We saw five wonderful shows, and took the Riverside Drive- but nothing thrilled me like the view of the ocean from the Woolworth Tower-How many wondering hearts had passsd out by that Statue of Liberty into the great unknown East.
Now we are settled in Ayer- a little town of about 2000. Just a wile from Camp Devens. Joe is in the Depot Brigade, and doesn't see any chance at overseas. But you can't tell, he may be changed any day. You've no idea how he envies you fellows who are gone. It is hard that he doesn't get to realize his hopes after having worked so hard for fourteen months. I'm contented enough for him to stay-but not one word should I say if he were ordered to. He thinks it possible that he may be sent to California to instruct in O.T.C. If so we'll go next week-wouldn't that be superb? I'd much prefer my winter there than here.
I know you must be having a grand time, and each night I pray for my two dear brothers whom the great old Atlantic separates from us. I wear your Shriner pin, Gordon's frat, and Joe's ring. Those are my service emblems. Joe gave me a wonderful engagement ring! A little larger than my solitaire set in the most beautiful platinum ring you can imagine. You knew of Morune's (?) wedding. She was just a week ahead of me. Don't know where she is, but I hope she will be happy with Ray waud (?)
You can't imagine how wonderfully happy I am. Joe is so kind and thoughtful and so big and "protective". It took nerve to leave home but I shudder to think of how incomplete life would have been had I failed to join hands with mon chere capitaine.
Write me, dear brother, at home, for there is no telling where I'll be, I think of you thousands of times, and have your picture before me all the time-
With just worlds of love for you-Little Sister
Below is Lola's own words about her early life:
Lola McFarland Hill’s Early Years: An Autobiography
(This is an autobiography that I wrote while on a trip with Joe while he was with the American Bar Association Traffic Court Program. While he was "conferring" I wrote just what came into my mind about myself).
1895 - I was born April 17, 1895 at the Homestead, 5 miles North of Ladonia, Tex. The youngest of 10 children, some of my earliest recollections are of going into town in the "surrey with the fringe on top". Because we drove so fast (I thought) I would look on one side of the road going into town and the other as we returned. Gordon, the brother just older than me, would look at the opposite side of the road, so we would not miss anything. Persuading my mother to buy me a leghorn hat with a daisy on it which my sisters persuaded her to return and exchange for a little bonnet (more my age) . I remember that my sisters would delight themselves with talking about their way off to Carlton College ( 11 miles to Bonham ) to school and be away from me for so long - Then my lips would quiver and tears come in my eyes, and they would laugh and take me in their arms and hug and kiss me.
Twice in my life, my father punished me - - Once I thought was undeserved because he saw me as I struck back at Gordon, and I thought he deserved to be punished more than me. I was angry with my Sister Bettie for not hiding me so he could not find me, but he did! The other time I deliberately disobeyed him and deserved the punishment. He was on the front porch on a summer afternoon "talking business" with some man. My three older brothers and a friend were climbing a ladder and jumping off. I did it once and was told to not do it again - but I wanted to so much that I took the chance. I deserved the punishment and I got it. Now I realize both times were when my father was in serious mental occupation and as he was man of very quick action he probably did this with out thinking.
One one of those eventful trips into town, I played with some little girls, Dot and Dimple Neilson, who revealed to me the identity of Santa Claus. For the first time I felt resentment to my father. I have never improved about being deceived. - I don’t like it.
In the year 1899-1900 Miss Moss Richardson, now a teacher-emeritus at Canyon College had a little kindergarten in Ladonia in a little pink cottage. I stayed with my sister Florence (then MRS Frank Crawford) and attended that school. On rainy days, Ancell Tipton carried me to school. Big events were Gordon's visiting the school, and my pride in him and how I cried when (ole Wendelin) Wendell Fraley dropped his cap in the well and I went in crying, "That old ---Wendlin' Fraley has dropped my little brother's cap in the well and is making faces at him. Gordon did not like it because I called him my little brother.
The summer of 1900 my mother, my Sister Bettie and I went to Falls City, Nebraska to visit Mother's relatives, the Crook family. This was my first train trip. When my Mother wakened me after a night on the Pullman. I said to her that I always slept good on trains. I thought every little white church with a spire was a Christian church. We were away from home a month and mother & father promised a gift to my sisters Mary and Tennie if they would not have a date while Mother was away. The girls obeyed, and the reward was a rubber-tired buggy! At this time Uncle Bob Bartley gave them "old Dan" an easy going horse to replace Hugo, a high stepping horse that he thought was dangerous for the girls to drive. Mary was very reluctant to give up Hugo.
1902 we moved to Ladonia. We were packed for the move for two months but the bad roads and the terrible weather delayed it. It was so much fun to move into a new house because Mr. John Cobb built it. Till this home burned August 1917 it was the scene of a gloriously care-free superlatively happy childhood and girlhood. A haven of love and security, a symbol of security - no inhibitions or complexities ever intruded. I loved and was loved and never doubted either. Father was a successful money maker for the times and the place and my mother was a wise and "choosey" spender. The church was our chief loyalty. While we had good friends they were not too essential to our happiness as we had brothers and sisters, and many interests in our house to occupy our time. Music and books more than any physical activities were my chief entertainment. From 1904 to 1910 I adored a boy two years older than myself. He did not know it till about 1911. Then it was too late, for my brother Jim's college friends visited in our home and from that time my interest was in MEN and not in High School boys.
Back to 1904 - Gordon and I accompanied Mother to Hillsboro to visit Sister Mary whose husband Walter Jennings was pastor of the Christian Church there. On the train I saw my first Catholic nun. Sister Mary Catherine. I was impressed and a little intrigued as I am today by their out-of-this world attitude. One year later I went to Taylor to see this same sister. This time Mother was there when Mary "birthed" her first baby. They tried to leave me in Austin, but though there was no mention of the expected baby before a little girl, just 9 years old, I was wise to it all and refused to remain in Austin, and I became a problem. I wasn't so smart as I thought and when I was invited to spend the night with Mrs. Pendleton, a dear friend of Mary's, I forgot my suspicions and went gaily to spend the night. When they told me the next morning that I was a "Little Auntie" I said I wanted to see the baby's clothes so they would know that I wasn’t surprised. You see, I still didn’t want to be deceived. From here we went again to Austin and my Uncle Doc Harper. He removed my tonsils. This was the first of an unending struggle against a nasal and throat weakness that is finally conceded to be an allergy or a sinus infection. We attended a reception at the Governors mansion. Governor Lanham was governor and Aunt Perle was most pleased to take us to see him.
1911 When I was 15 years old I went to Amarillo to spend several weeks with my Sister Mary. Always the perfect hostess, she made every effort for my pleasure. In 1910 Vista Woods and I visited my sister Bettie in Konawa, Okla where her husband H. Edgar Fuller was the head of the bank. Sister Bettie planned some entertainment. Edgar Hyde tried to be nice to me, but I didn't like him too well. Rather, I liked Vista's beau better. He was a college boy and he impressed us as he would knit his brow and refer to his fraternity as Phi Delta Theta.
1912 - High School graduation - and my first real romance. I went again to Austin by Pullman train to Austin. My Aunt Perle had a party for her sister and me. I returned by way of Cleburne Texas to visit Gordon and Winnie Jackson. Joe Hill was in Cleburne at the time, but he was about 24 years old and I was just 17 and at that time he was dating older girls and paid no attention to our crowd.
1912 - 1916 - College years at TCU Fort Worth. Still happy and care-free- self-important years. Many friends and activities but not too seriously studious.
Summer of 1916, my parents, Sister Tennie, and I went to Manitou Colo. in the Drawing Room of the Santa Fe Railroad. The cool tangy air and the taste of fresh raspberries when we got off the train and had breakfast still lingers on in my memory. My father was ill with pernicious aenemia and he was very gentle, loving, and indulgent for he knew the disease at that time was incurable. We returned and felt the urge to do something "on my own". So, I went to nearby Roxton, Tex., and had a wonderful year teaching school. I had received the minimum of formal education in pedagogy, so my teaching was certainly of my own design. It served the need for the principal offered me a position as principal and Latin teacher in another town with him. But World War I was brewing and my mother persuaded me to remain at home. My father died on Feb. 4, their wedding anniversary (45th) and two of my brothers, Jim and Gordon had gone over seas.
1917 I supervised Junior Red Cross in the Ladonia High School and went to Dallas every two weeks for a $10 piano lesson under Mr. Phillip Tronitz. I later learned that Roger Williams, current favorite pianist 1970-was also a pupil of Mr. Tronitz and we had a little correspondence regarding our teacher. My mind was more on soldiers than music. During this time I went to San Antonio with Una Stark Anderson to see Joe M. Hill who was to be commissioned 1st Lieut. at the second Officers' Training Camp at Leon Springs. While there I had good time with Tom Paul Sweeney also.
Summer 1918 our home in Ladonia burned while we were attending a funeral in Honey Grove. Some painters set fire to a bird nest in the cupola as they were using a torch to remove paint. No words can express what a loss that was to me. Something of security and self confidence went up in that smoke. Before the smoke died down we received a cablegram from Gordon saying he had arrived safely in England. Mother reminded us of our blessings
Fall of 1918 I was teaching in the High School at Ladonia. One month of school and it was closed down because of the terrible flu epidemic. During this time a letter from Joe Hill from Camp Dix, New Jersey asking me to marry him.
He had been promoted to Capt. and assigned to Ayer, Mass. at Camp Devens. I accepted and we were married in Ladonia at my sister Bettie's house. Aunt Rado made our wedding cake (she had to get sugar from neighbors - it was so scarce) Ethel McFarland played the wedding march. Rev. W. Stephens performed the ceremony. I bought my wedding suit at the then rather new Neiman-Marcus and other accessories including a wardrobe trunk from Sanger's. All for a little over $700. I borrowed the money from Gordon and paid back out of 40¢ cotton - 35 bales on a 273 acre farm my father left to me. We went to N. Y. by Pullman on our honeymoon and my first trip on a railroad pass. Joe had been claim agent for Katy and they held his job for him. Ayer Mass. is 30 miles from Boston, so we saw many shows on this trip. By Christmas the war was over and we were glad to be goin back to the Southland.
HOME FOR CHRISTMAS 1918
GrandLola was the glue behind all the family reunions and get-togethers. She documented everything and collected everything that had news of family members and friends of family. She maintained a keen interest in Ladonia and its doings. Her ultimate enterprise was the publication of her McFarland family book that contained the McFarland family historiy. GrandLola was the best seamtress and craftsman. For Easter she would sew 3 frilly, girly, outfits for my sisters and me. She knitted sweaters, afghans, made decoupage containers, Christmas tree-skirts, etc. She even made her own kitchen wall-paper out of Currier and Ives prints she collected. I remember spending lots of time looking at all the interesting details of the prints on her wall while we were waiting for GrandLola and Granddaddy's special breakfast of waffles and bacon--the kind made from scratch, remember?
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1895 - 1986 (91 years)
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