HomeTourismHistoric Dyess Colony, Dyess, Arkansas

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Historic Dyess Colony, Dyess, Arkansas — 1 Comment

  1. I lived with my grand parents, Sydney Chrestman, in Dyess when I was around 8 or 9 years old. This was around 1950. My parents were going thru some hard times, so me and one of my brothers were sent there to live and go to school.
    I remember in the lunch room seeing Johnny Cash’s picture of his graduating class on the wall along with a picture of one of my uncles, Lenard “Leo” Chrestman.
    My grandfather was, at one time, Justice of the peace in Dyess.
    I was born in Little Rock in 1942, but remember at a very young age, around 2 years old, being in Dyess when the Mississippi River over flowed and was carried on my uncle’s shoulders from the road to the house.
    During those younger years I lived with them, I remember the hard work we had to do on the farm. We had 80 acres of cotton that we hand picked and we also had to pick my uncle’s crop. His name was Eddie Chrestman. We had many immigrants families, come in an helped pick the cotton. As the crops were picked and our wagon was full, we would take the cotton to Lepanto to the gin. We were paid 5 cents a pound.
    It was a hard life, but I remember to this day, so much of it and the life style we lived. We were SO poor.

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