&
Arthur Woodson Goodson
"Wood"
Stringfield
Wood worked for a living for the most part, but any overtime was due to accident. Wood's mother had committed suicide with another member of the family and left Wood's father, the Reverend Marion Stringfield with small children to raise. He later re-married
a Sarah who was a member of the Primitive Rock Baptist Church (probably the strictest Baptists at that time), where Marion would preach from time to time. Wood had inheritied an ear for music, and learned to play the banjo. As an adult, he would rather have played the banjo than eat, and playing took up most of his time. Wood was not dishonest, but the contrary, and he was known to be an honest man. But he was also known to be some what less than industrious, and he was a banjo pickin' fool.
The best story I know about Wood, took place at the lumber yard. Wood hauled logs from Tompkinsville to Glasgow several days a week. He had 4 mules which were known to be some of the best in the country; Kit, Kate, Annie Red and Ida Row. One day he was heading to Glasgow with a load, when he came up on one of his friends who also hauled wood. The man's mules were stalled at the bottom of the hill and wouldn't pull the load. Wood was quick to observe that the man didn't have as heavy a load as he did and offered to hook his team up to the man's wagon and pull it up the hill. This only made the man madder and he cursed an told Wood he didn't need his help. When the man finally got to the log yard, he inquired as to the whereabouts of Wood, and how heavy his load had been. Wood had told the man he was carrying 1000 board feet, but the lumber yard had measured 900. The man went to Wood fuming and said "You lied to me Wood ! You said you had a 1000 board feet and you only had 900." To which Wood replied "Well, I come in 100 feet of tellin' the truth, that's pretty good don't you think?
Though Wood seemed calm and nice on the outside, things were different at home. He was extremely abusive to his 2nd daughter Mattie. One day when she was about 5, Wood beat her mercilessly. When her grandfather (Samuel Carter Stout) found out about it, he immediately saddled up his horse and went to Wood's house, got Mattie, her horse and clothes and took her home with him to live. He told Wood if he ever laid a hand on her again, he would kill him. Wood never tried to get Mattie back, and she remained with her grandfather until she married Josh. My grandmother Mattie did comment that when she went to her father's funeral, she would have to "put an onion in my kerchief in order to cry".
To Previous
Page
Back To
Start
Virtual
Tour
