Anderson Lane Franklin was 96 when he died. All twelve of his children were still living and he had about 28 great-great-grandchildren. He was loved and respected by his children and grandchildren and remembered as being a very strict disciplinarian.
He was named for his father, Anderson Green Franklin; however, he told daughter Willie that the "L" he used to sign with his first name (Anderson) was started with the "G" being perverted by companies he bought his repair parts from. He told her that it was easier to make an "L" than to straighten the companies on it.
Anderson was interviewed on his 94th birthday in February 1960. "I was born in Jasper, the county seat of Pickens County, about 40 miles north of Rome, Georgia. I came along about two years after the Civil War, and remember the state of Georgia at that time. It was a mighty poor state after the Yankees took everything. 'Foraging' they called it at the time but we'd call it robbery or stealing today." Anderson recalled that the nearest city of any size was Rome. Once a year he would go there by horse and wagon with his father where they would trade corn, cotton, tobacco or peanuts for sugar and other groceries. Many was the time he drove a team of oxen to church. His only schooling was in the little log school house where the basic "three R's" were taught. At 19, he went to Texas. For about a year he worked on a farm, picking cotton and doing other chores. The owner of the farm decided to sell out and move to Indian Territory. He asked the young man to go with him. "A white man was assessed $5 a year to stay in the Territory at that time. Many of them married an Indian girl and in that way acquired some land," noted Anderson. There was a man who had a saw mill near the town of Chickasha who hired him. The mill cut up cottonwood lumber for the many houses being built throughout the area, shipping it as far as Dennison, Texas, 75 miles away. Practically all the white men who were not married were outlaws," said Anderson. "Whenever the Law came through the Territory, about three times a year, a runner would precede them. Alerted, the outlaws would leave the mill, mount their horses, ride off into the hills, and not come back until danger from the Law was over."
Anderson, now 21, went back to Texas where in 1887 he married Blanche Stone and settled down for a while as a blacksmith in that state and later in the new state of Oklahoma. He shod hundreds of horses, for which he was paid $1 each. Plow shares were forged and hammered into shape by him which turned the soil of land that had never known a plow before.
His daughters recounted a story he told of having had a fight with another man in Georgia when he was about 19. He thought he had killed him and moved away. Two of his brothers looked him up in Texas on their way to Oregon in the 1890's. Many, many years later he returned to see if he could locate his parents and encountered the same man he thought he had killed years earlier. Sadly, he lost contact with his parents who had moved to another part of northern Georgia and he never could locate them again.
Anderson and Blanche had twelve healthy children over a twenty year period and moved frequently throughout Texas and Oklahoma. Oldest daughter Nellie recalled that "the family left Talley Jeffcoat's place a mile or two from Blueridge, Texas when Thelma was but 1 to 2 months old" in December 1895 or January 1896. "Papa had gathered his crop of cotton and corn. We visited Uncle John (Stone) before we left. We finally landed at Aunt Bet Barnet's place - Papa found a place for us, just a few miles from Aunt Bet's place (she had 2 teenage kids, Ona, a girl, Edward, a boy. Papa made a crop there on "The Mac Carens Place". Then we moved close to Blanket, 2 to 4 miles from town where Leonard was born. Papa also made a crop there (on the Coffee place). We traded in Blanket, and once Pa took us all to trade. I've been thru there at least 4 times since I've been an old woman, it still looks the same. I've never been to Zephyr which is in the same county (Brown). But once Papa took us to Brownwood to the "Ringlin Bros" show. Brownwood is the county seat of the county, but I don't imagine there'd be any records there or even at the State Capital. I have been to Palo Pinto several times to where Oscar was born., It's still there but sure is falling into decay. When we left Blanket we gypsied around in the covered wagon, in no hurry, finally camped on the San Sabas River (Papa finally got a tent) and that's where he caught the big fish and I mean BIG. Then pa got a house on the bank of the San Saba River, we moved in, where Hixie was born. In the meantime we got acquainted with the Crump Family. They were very friendly and nice, one girl was named Hixie. Mama named our Hixie after her. Then "Old Man Crump had a well-drilling rig (or acquired one) and hired Papa to be the driller. They drilled so many dry holes they folded up and called it quits. So we drifted on, reaching Eden, Texas. I was 10 years old, so Oscar and me got to see what school was like, our teacher was a man named S. E. Van Burkleo. Moved onto Eldorado, Christoval, and I'm sure you can remember from then on. " He and Blanche also helped raise two of their grandsons, Douglas Slover and Bill Allred. Anderson was a very harsh disciplinarian who had a bad temper, especially with his older children. He would beat them for the slightest offense. Many of his daughters and grandson recounted severe beatings at his hands. Two separate incidents with different daughters recalled intervention by the local sheriff, who warned Anderson about controlling his behavior. He kicked his boys out of the house at the age of 16 as he felt he wasn't responsible for them anymore. His temper mellowed as he grew older and his younger children benefited. Even recounting tales of his harsh side, his children thought well of him and their life as a family.
In 1934, Anderson came to California to join his wife after disposing of his blacksmith shop in Walters, Oklahoma. Blanche died shortly afterwards. Until his death in 1962 at the age of 96, Anderson alternately lived with one of his daughters. He lived with Thelma for a few years, eleven years with Joan, some years with Viola, and spent his final years with Inez. He had hoped to live to be 100 years old but his health started deteriorating once he broke his hip. He still had a remarkable memory at 96 and remembered even his Great-grandchildren's names when they came to visit. Papa Anderson was buried at Forest Lawn in Glendale in the Graceland section. Blanche was buried in the Acacia section; he regretted later in life not keeping the second plot next to hers.
[bio by great granddaughter Margie (Allred) von Marenholtz]