Autobiographical Life Sketch
"I, Thomas Malcolm Bunch(1), was born on October 12, 1918 to Coy Oliver Bunch and Dora Lee Denton Bunch. I was born in Pope, Perry County, Tennessee. (I was born in the old Bunch home.) My father farmed that place for a while. Then we moved into a little house on another Bunch place by a little branch (stream) that is where my sister Evelyn and my brother Carlos was born. I can remember a little when they were born as I am quite a bit older.
My Dad joined the church* there and his family looked down on him for that. He could not farm the Bunch Farm any more so we moved to Western Tennessee. We lived with my Aunt Mary’s family for a while.
Dad went to Colorado to find work. I was about seven then. They planned to move there but Dad got homesick and came home. We then moved to Obion, Tennessee where he worked as a blacksmith. Shoeing horses and so forth. We lived upstairs over a restaurant.
About that time they were building a steel bridge across the Obion River. My Dad quit the man he worked for and got a job on the bridge. He would heat the rivets and throw them up to a man who caught them and riveted the bridge together. That was during the great depression.
While we lived there, I was baptized in the Obion river. I was nine and one half years old. I was scared of the water which was very cold. They had to literally drag me into the water. I cried and cried.
When the bridge was finished, Dad had to have work. He heard about a blacksmith shop in Eldbridge, Tennessee. The Band had taken over. They let him have it so he went in business for himself. We moved there and that is where Mary and Belva were born.
Dad made a real good living. The banks were all closed. There wasn’t much money. I remember the people used to pay Dad in chickens, eggs, or pigs and so forth. Then he would sell them. He had a grist mill there. He would grind corn for people and got so much corn to do it. That is how we got our feed for the animals.
There was not much money but we had a good life there. I got most of my education there, what little I got. Dad and Mom wanted to be near the church so we moved to Brighton, Tennessee. They had a little chapel there. That is where my sister, Helen was born. Moving there was the worse thing that could have happened to us. No work! No nothing! We made a deal to share-crop for a man by the name of Frank Feasier. We raised cotton. When we got it picked and baled, he sold it and kept all of the money. We had worked the whole year for nothing. We took him to court but we were nothing so he won. I remember that they laughed at us and poor mother cried and cried. People had no protection in those days.
We then moved to Beamas, Tennessee where Dad got a job shoeing horses at a blacksmith shop. That is where James Melvin was born. I was at Uncle Troy Bunches when he was born. Then Dad took over a shop in Three Way, Tennessee. That was another bad move. We like to starved to death there.
That fall we got the chance to glean sweet potatoes after the farmers had gathered his crop. We got enough for the winter. Dad managed to get lard and flour. That is all we ate all winter long. We lived in an old Woodman Hall. One room. The stove was combination cooking and heating so it wasn’t too good for either. We like to froze. We finally put a partition in it which helped some.
Next spring we moved to Jackson, Tennessee. I had went to work for Uncle Troy that spring. I was fifteen years old. I broke ground with two mules and a turning plow. I worked there two years. When crops were layed by I worked with my Uncle Troy ontlin on the Tennessee River. I fished and muscled. We fished with trout line and nets. We got 15 cents a pound for the fish. We muscled with a brail which drug on the bottom of the river. You drag down the river 100 yards or so then raise your brails and pick off the muscles. There you would cook at the end of the day and move the shells and we sold them for $18.00 a ton. They made buttons out of the shells.
The last year I was with Uncle Troy Bunch, a mule fell on me and broke my left leg. I was plowing and it came up a storm. I unhooked the mules and was riding one. I was running him trying to beat the storm. It was raining really hard. The mule fell on me and broke my leg. I went home after that.
Dad and Mom were getting ready to move west. They were moving to Oklahoma City. Dad got mixed up with a man who was an ex-con. They were going o be partners in a blacksmith shop in Oklahoma. We got started on our way but didn’t get very far till the truck with all our stuff broke down. So Dad sold a few of our things and gave the rest away. Then we went on our way in an old Whippet car. I would drive a while and Dad would sit on the right fender and hold on the headlight. There wasn’t room in the car for al of us. Then he would drive and I would sit on the fender. We got as far as Henryetta, Oklahoma and broke down to go no more. The ex-con had all of our blacksmith tools in his truck and he kept going. We saw them no more.
We knew some people there who were members of the Church. We looked them up and stayed with them till we could get a house. Their name was Davis, if I remember right. Dad got a job working at a wrecking yard for a little while. When that ended there was no work to be found so Mom and Dad decided to go on to Arizona.
Mom had a bone fell on her finger at that time. She sure suffered with it, no money to go to the doctor. We had $12.00 so Mom kept $5.00 Dad and I took $7.00 and started hitch-hiking to Arizona. That was in 1936 and I was 18 years old. We had an awful time getting there. We walked many miles. I remember we went 44 miles one day and walked 40 miles of it. We slept wherever night overtook us. We would spread our bedroll out and sleep together for warmth. It sure did get cold. I thought we would never get to Arizona. I remember one time we were way out in the dessert and I was just wore out and Dad wanted to pray. I said, “Pray, hell, God don’t even know where we are”. So Dad got down on his knees and prayed by himself. We didn’t wait 5 minutes till we got a ride. A long ride. From then on when Dad said let us pray, I got on my knees.
When we got there I think we had 20 or 25 cents left. Dad hunted up a Bishop. He got Dad a job picking cotton in Gilbert, Arizona. We picked cotton the rest of the fall. Then we borrowed money from the Church to send and get Mom and the kids. We had no bed so we slept in cotton till after the cotton was picked. Dad couldn’t find any work but I got a job milking cows for one of the Lamb family. That is what we lived off of the first winter in Arizona. I got milk sores under my finger nails. Tow of my nails came off but I had to milk anyway, sore or not. Mom would get up about 3 AM and soak my hands in hot Epsom salt water and massage them before I went to work.
In 1937 Dad and Mom took us to the Arizona Temple and we were sealed together as a family for Time and all Eternity. This made all the hardships worth while."
Source: FamilySearch, viewed 5 Jan 2015.
URL: https://familysearch.org/tree/#view=ancestor&person=KWC3-S1P
Notes:
(1) He was called "Malcolm" most of his life.
"I, Thomas Malcolm Bunch(1), was born on October 12, 1918 to Coy Oliver Bunch and Dora Lee Denton Bunch. I was born in Pope, Perry County, Tennessee. (I was born in the old Bunch home.) My father farmed that place for a while. Then we moved into a little house on another Bunch place by a little branch (stream) that is where my sister Evelyn and my brother Carlos was born. I can remember a little when they were born as I am quite a bit older.
My Dad joined the church* there and his family looked down on him for that. He could not farm the Bunch Farm any more so we moved to Western Tennessee. We lived with my Aunt Mary’s family for a while.
Dad went to Colorado to find work. I was about seven then. They planned to move there but Dad got homesick and came home. We then moved to Obion, Tennessee where he worked as a blacksmith. Shoeing horses and so forth. We lived upstairs over a restaurant.
About that time they were building a steel bridge across the Obion River. My Dad quit the man he worked for and got a job on the bridge. He would heat the rivets and throw them up to a man who caught them and riveted the bridge together. That was during the great depression.
While we lived there, I was baptized in the Obion river. I was nine and one half years old. I was scared of the water which was very cold. They had to literally drag me into the water. I cried and cried.
When the bridge was finished, Dad had to have work. He heard about a blacksmith shop in Eldbridge, Tennessee. The Band had taken over. They let him have it so he went in business for himself. We moved there and that is where Mary and Belva were born.
Dad made a real good living. The banks were all closed. There wasn’t much money. I remember the people used to pay Dad in chickens, eggs, or pigs and so forth. Then he would sell them. He had a grist mill there. He would grind corn for people and got so much corn to do it. That is how we got our feed for the animals.
There was not much money but we had a good life there. I got most of my education there, what little I got. Dad and Mom wanted to be near the church so we moved to Brighton, Tennessee. They had a little chapel there. That is where my sister, Helen was born. Moving there was the worse thing that could have happened to us. No work! No nothing! We made a deal to share-crop for a man by the name of Frank Feasier. We raised cotton. When we got it picked and baled, he sold it and kept all of the money. We had worked the whole year for nothing. We took him to court but we were nothing so he won. I remember that they laughed at us and poor mother cried and cried. People had no protection in those days.
We then moved to Beamas, Tennessee where Dad got a job shoeing horses at a blacksmith shop. That is where James Melvin was born. I was at Uncle Troy Bunches when he was born. Then Dad took over a shop in Three Way, Tennessee. That was another bad move. We like to starved to death there.
That fall we got the chance to glean sweet potatoes after the farmers had gathered his crop. We got enough for the winter. Dad managed to get lard and flour. That is all we ate all winter long. We lived in an old Woodman Hall. One room. The stove was combination cooking and heating so it wasn’t too good for either. We like to froze. We finally put a partition in it which helped some.
Next spring we moved to Jackson, Tennessee. I had went to work for Uncle Troy that spring. I was fifteen years old. I broke ground with two mules and a turning plow. I worked there two years. When crops were layed by I worked with my Uncle Troy ontlin on the Tennessee River. I fished and muscled. We fished with trout line and nets. We got 15 cents a pound for the fish. We muscled with a brail which drug on the bottom of the river. You drag down the river 100 yards or so then raise your brails and pick off the muscles. There you would cook at the end of the day and move the shells and we sold them for $18.00 a ton. They made buttons out of the shells.
The last year I was with Uncle Troy Bunch, a mule fell on me and broke my left leg. I was plowing and it came up a storm. I unhooked the mules and was riding one. I was running him trying to beat the storm. It was raining really hard. The mule fell on me and broke my leg. I went home after that.
Dad and Mom were getting ready to move west. They were moving to Oklahoma City. Dad got mixed up with a man who was an ex-con. They were going o be partners in a blacksmith shop in Oklahoma. We got started on our way but didn’t get very far till the truck with all our stuff broke down. So Dad sold a few of our things and gave the rest away. Then we went on our way in an old Whippet car. I would drive a while and Dad would sit on the right fender and hold on the headlight. There wasn’t room in the car for al of us. Then he would drive and I would sit on the fender. We got as far as Henryetta, Oklahoma and broke down to go no more. The ex-con had all of our blacksmith tools in his truck and he kept going. We saw them no more.
We knew some people there who were members of the Church. We looked them up and stayed with them till we could get a house. Their name was Davis, if I remember right. Dad got a job working at a wrecking yard for a little while. When that ended there was no work to be found so Mom and Dad decided to go on to Arizona.
Mom had a bone fell on her finger at that time. She sure suffered with it, no money to go to the doctor. We had $12.00 so Mom kept $5.00 Dad and I took $7.00 and started hitch-hiking to Arizona. That was in 1936 and I was 18 years old. We had an awful time getting there. We walked many miles. I remember we went 44 miles one day and walked 40 miles of it. We slept wherever night overtook us. We would spread our bedroll out and sleep together for warmth. It sure did get cold. I thought we would never get to Arizona. I remember one time we were way out in the dessert and I was just wore out and Dad wanted to pray. I said, “Pray, hell, God don’t even know where we are”. So Dad got down on his knees and prayed by himself. We didn’t wait 5 minutes till we got a ride. A long ride. From then on when Dad said let us pray, I got on my knees.
When we got there I think we had 20 or 25 cents left. Dad hunted up a Bishop. He got Dad a job picking cotton in Gilbert, Arizona. We picked cotton the rest of the fall. Then we borrowed money from the Church to send and get Mom and the kids. We had no bed so we slept in cotton till after the cotton was picked. Dad couldn’t find any work but I got a job milking cows for one of the Lamb family. That is what we lived off of the first winter in Arizona. I got milk sores under my finger nails. Tow of my nails came off but I had to milk anyway, sore or not. Mom would get up about 3 AM and soak my hands in hot Epsom salt water and massage them before I went to work.
In 1937 Dad and Mom took us to the Arizona Temple and we were sealed together as a family for Time and all Eternity. This made all the hardships worth while."
Source: FamilySearch, viewed 5 Jan 2015.
URL: https://familysearch.org/tree/#view=ancestor&person=KWC3-S1P
Notes:
(1) He was called "Malcolm" most of his life.
Autobiographical Life Sketch
"I, Thomas Malcolm Bunch(1), was born on October 12, 1918 to Coy Oliver Bunch and Dora Lee Denton Bunch. I was born in Pope, Perry County, Tennessee. (I was born in the old Bunch home.) My father farmed that place for a while. Then we moved into a little house on another Bunch place by a little branch (stream) that is where my sister Evelyn and my brother Carlos was born. I can remember a little when they were born as I am quite a bit older.
My Dad joined the church* there and his family looked down on him for that. He could not farm the Bunch Farm any more so we moved to Western Tennessee. We lived with my Aunt Mary’s family for a while.
Dad went to Colorado to find work. I was about seven then. They planned to move there but Dad got homesick and came home. We then moved to Obion, Tennessee where he worked as a blacksmith. Shoeing horses and so forth. We lived upstairs over a restaurant.
About that time they were building a steel bridge across the Obion River. My Dad quit the man he worked for and got a job on the bridge. He would heat the rivets and throw them up to a man who caught them and riveted the bridge together. That was during the great depression.
While we lived there, I was baptized in the Obion river. I was nine and one half years old. I was scared of the water which was very cold. They had to literally drag me into the water. I cried and cried.
When the bridge was finished, Dad had to have work. He heard about a blacksmith shop in Eldbridge, Tennessee. The Band had taken over. They let him have it so he went in business for himself. We moved there and that is where Mary and Belva were born.
Dad made a real good living. The banks were all closed. There wasn’t much money. I remember the people used to pay Dad in chickens, eggs, or pigs and so forth. Then he would sell them. He had a grist mill there. He would grind corn for people and got so much corn to do it. That is how we got our feed for the animals.
There was not much money but we had a good life there. I got most of my education there, what little I got. Dad and Mom wanted to be near the church so we moved to Brighton, Tennessee. They had a little chapel there. That is where my sister, Helen was born. Moving there was the worse thing that could have happened to us. No work! No nothing! We made a deal to share-crop for a man by the name of Frank Feasier. We raised cotton. When we got it picked and baled, he sold it and kept all of the money. We had worked the whole year for nothing. We took him to court but we were nothing so he won. I remember that they laughed at us and poor mother cried and cried. People had no protection in those days.
We then moved to Beamas, Tennessee where Dad got a job shoeing horses at a blacksmith shop. That is where James Melvin was born. I was at Uncle Troy Bunches when he was born. Then Dad took over a shop in Three Way, Tennessee. That was another bad move. We like to starved to death there.
That fall we got the chance to glean sweet potatoes after the farmers had gathered his crop. We got enough for the winter. Dad managed to get lard and flour. That is all we ate all winter long. We lived in an old Woodman Hall. One room. The stove was combination cooking and heating so it wasn’t too good for either. We like to froze. We finally put a partition in it which helped some.
Next spring we moved to Jackson, Tennessee. I had went to work for Uncle Troy that spring. I was fifteen years old. I broke ground with two mules and a turning plow. I worked there two years. When crops were layed by I worked with my Uncle Troy ontlin on the Tennessee River. I fished and muscled. We fished with trout line and nets. We got 15 cents a pound for the fish. We muscled with a brail which drug on the bottom of the river. You drag down the river 100 yards or so then raise your brails and pick off the muscles. There you would cook at the end of the day and move the shells and we sold them for $18.00 a ton. They made buttons out of the shells.
The last year I was with Uncle Troy Bunch, a mule fell on me and broke my left leg. I was plowing and it came up a storm. I unhooked the mules and was riding one. I was running him trying to beat the storm. It was raining really hard. The mule fell on me and broke my leg. I went home after that.
Dad and Mom were getting ready to move west. They were moving to Oklahoma City. Dad got mixed up with a man who was an ex-con. They were going o be partners in a blacksmith shop in Oklahoma. We got started on our way but didn’t get very far till the truck with all our stuff broke down. So Dad sold a few of our things and gave the rest away. Then we went on our way in an old Whippet car. I would drive a while and Dad would sit on the right fender and hold on the headlight. There wasn’t room in the car for al of us. Then he would drive and I would sit on the fender. We got as far as Henryetta, Oklahoma and broke down to go no more. The ex-con had all of our blacksmith tools in his truck and he kept going. We saw them no more.
We knew some people there who were members of the Church. We looked them up and stayed with them till we could get a house. Their name was Davis, if I remember right. Dad got a job working at a wrecking yard for a little while. When that ended there was no work to be found so Mom and Dad decided to go on to Arizona.
Mom had a bone fell on her finger at that time. She sure suffered with it, no money to go to the doctor. We had $12.00 so Mom kept $5.00 Dad and I took $7.00 and started hitch-hiking to Arizona. That was in 1936 and I was 18 years old. We had an awful time getting there. We walked many miles. I remember we went 44 miles one day and walked 40 miles of it. We slept wherever night overtook us. We would spread our bedroll out and sleep together for warmth. It sure did get cold. I thought we would never get to Arizona. I remember one time we were way out in the dessert and I was just wore out and Dad wanted to pray. I said, “Pray, hell, God don’t even know where we are”. So Dad got down on his knees and prayed by himself. We didn’t wait 5 minutes till we got a ride. A long ride. From then on when Dad said let us pray, I got on my knees.
When we got there I think we had 20 or 25 cents left. Dad hunted up a Bishop. He got Dad a job picking cotton in Gilbert, Arizona. We picked cotton the rest of the fall. Then we borrowed money from the Church to send and get Mom and the kids. We had no bed so we slept in cotton till after the cotton was picked. Dad couldn’t find any work but I got a job milking cows for one of the Lamb family. That is what we lived off of the first winter in Arizona. I got milk sores under my finger nails. Tow of my nails came off but I had to milk anyway, sore or not. Mom would get up about 3 AM and soak my hands in hot Epsom salt water and massage them before I went to work.
In 1937 Dad and Mom took us to the Arizona Temple and we were sealed together as a family for Time and all Eternity. This made all the hardships worth while."
Source: FamilySearch, viewed 5 Jan 2015.
URL: https://familysearch.org/tree/#view=ancestor&person=KWC3-S1P
Notes:
(1) He was called "Malcolm" most of his life.
"I, Thomas Malcolm Bunch(1), was born on October 12, 1918 to Coy Oliver Bunch and Dora Lee Denton Bunch. I was born in Pope, Perry County, Tennessee. (I was born in the old Bunch home.) My father farmed that place for a while. Then we moved into a little house on another Bunch place by a little branch (stream) that is where my sister Evelyn and my brother Carlos was born. I can remember a little when they were born as I am quite a bit older.
My Dad joined the church* there and his family looked down on him for that. He could not farm the Bunch Farm any more so we moved to Western Tennessee. We lived with my Aunt Mary’s family for a while.
Dad went to Colorado to find work. I was about seven then. They planned to move there but Dad got homesick and came home. We then moved to Obion, Tennessee where he worked as a blacksmith. Shoeing horses and so forth. We lived upstairs over a restaurant.
About that time they were building a steel bridge across the Obion River. My Dad quit the man he worked for and got a job on the bridge. He would heat the rivets and throw them up to a man who caught them and riveted the bridge together. That was during the great depression.
While we lived there, I was baptized in the Obion river. I was nine and one half years old. I was scared of the water which was very cold. They had to literally drag me into the water. I cried and cried.
When the bridge was finished, Dad had to have work. He heard about a blacksmith shop in Eldbridge, Tennessee. The Band had taken over. They let him have it so he went in business for himself. We moved there and that is where Mary and Belva were born.
Dad made a real good living. The banks were all closed. There wasn’t much money. I remember the people used to pay Dad in chickens, eggs, or pigs and so forth. Then he would sell them. He had a grist mill there. He would grind corn for people and got so much corn to do it. That is how we got our feed for the animals.
There was not much money but we had a good life there. I got most of my education there, what little I got. Dad and Mom wanted to be near the church so we moved to Brighton, Tennessee. They had a little chapel there. That is where my sister, Helen was born. Moving there was the worse thing that could have happened to us. No work! No nothing! We made a deal to share-crop for a man by the name of Frank Feasier. We raised cotton. When we got it picked and baled, he sold it and kept all of the money. We had worked the whole year for nothing. We took him to court but we were nothing so he won. I remember that they laughed at us and poor mother cried and cried. People had no protection in those days.
We then moved to Beamas, Tennessee where Dad got a job shoeing horses at a blacksmith shop. That is where James Melvin was born. I was at Uncle Troy Bunches when he was born. Then Dad took over a shop in Three Way, Tennessee. That was another bad move. We like to starved to death there.
That fall we got the chance to glean sweet potatoes after the farmers had gathered his crop. We got enough for the winter. Dad managed to get lard and flour. That is all we ate all winter long. We lived in an old Woodman Hall. One room. The stove was combination cooking and heating so it wasn’t too good for either. We like to froze. We finally put a partition in it which helped some.
Next spring we moved to Jackson, Tennessee. I had went to work for Uncle Troy that spring. I was fifteen years old. I broke ground with two mules and a turning plow. I worked there two years. When crops were layed by I worked with my Uncle Troy ontlin on the Tennessee River. I fished and muscled. We fished with trout line and nets. We got 15 cents a pound for the fish. We muscled with a brail which drug on the bottom of the river. You drag down the river 100 yards or so then raise your brails and pick off the muscles. There you would cook at the end of the day and move the shells and we sold them for $18.00 a ton. They made buttons out of the shells.
The last year I was with Uncle Troy Bunch, a mule fell on me and broke my left leg. I was plowing and it came up a storm. I unhooked the mules and was riding one. I was running him trying to beat the storm. It was raining really hard. The mule fell on me and broke my leg. I went home after that.
Dad and Mom were getting ready to move west. They were moving to Oklahoma City. Dad got mixed up with a man who was an ex-con. They were going o be partners in a blacksmith shop in Oklahoma. We got started on our way but didn’t get very far till the truck with all our stuff broke down. So Dad sold a few of our things and gave the rest away. Then we went on our way in an old Whippet car. I would drive a while and Dad would sit on the right fender and hold on the headlight. There wasn’t room in the car for al of us. Then he would drive and I would sit on the fender. We got as far as Henryetta, Oklahoma and broke down to go no more. The ex-con had all of our blacksmith tools in his truck and he kept going. We saw them no more.
We knew some people there who were members of the Church. We looked them up and stayed with them till we could get a house. Their name was Davis, if I remember right. Dad got a job working at a wrecking yard for a little while. When that ended there was no work to be found so Mom and Dad decided to go on to Arizona.
Mom had a bone fell on her finger at that time. She sure suffered with it, no money to go to the doctor. We had $12.00 so Mom kept $5.00 Dad and I took $7.00 and started hitch-hiking to Arizona. That was in 1936 and I was 18 years old. We had an awful time getting there. We walked many miles. I remember we went 44 miles one day and walked 40 miles of it. We slept wherever night overtook us. We would spread our bedroll out and sleep together for warmth. It sure did get cold. I thought we would never get to Arizona. I remember one time we were way out in the dessert and I was just wore out and Dad wanted to pray. I said, “Pray, hell, God don’t even know where we are”. So Dad got down on his knees and prayed by himself. We didn’t wait 5 minutes till we got a ride. A long ride. From then on when Dad said let us pray, I got on my knees.
When we got there I think we had 20 or 25 cents left. Dad hunted up a Bishop. He got Dad a job picking cotton in Gilbert, Arizona. We picked cotton the rest of the fall. Then we borrowed money from the Church to send and get Mom and the kids. We had no bed so we slept in cotton till after the cotton was picked. Dad couldn’t find any work but I got a job milking cows for one of the Lamb family. That is what we lived off of the first winter in Arizona. I got milk sores under my finger nails. Tow of my nails came off but I had to milk anyway, sore or not. Mom would get up about 3 AM and soak my hands in hot Epsom salt water and massage them before I went to work.
In 1937 Dad and Mom took us to the Arizona Temple and we were sealed together as a family for Time and all Eternity. This made all the hardships worth while."
Source: FamilySearch, viewed 5 Jan 2015.
URL: https://familysearch.org/tree/#view=ancestor&person=KWC3-S1P
Notes:
(1) He was called "Malcolm" most of his life.
Gravesite Details
"This is a Military Grave"
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
