When my mother, Bulah Hamrick was born, my dad was fifteen years old, the date was September 29, 1892 and it was in Polk County, North Carolina.
My father, Ira Hoyle Hamrick, and my mother were fourth cousins but the families did not stay in contact with each other very much because back in those days the only way to get around was by horse and buggy, or by walking. Cars were only beginning to be available back then and poor country families like the one my daddy came up in didn't have the kind of money it took to buy one of those new-fangled and noisy things.
A lot of the entertainments that we take for granted in today's world did not exist back then, or were out of reach for such as my daddy, so what leisure time they had was spent on more basic pursuits and for daddy that was fishing. My daddy would sometimes make the trek over my grandpa Joseph Landrum Hamrick's (Bulah's father) house to go fishing with him.
When my mother was born, Grandfather Landrum went fishing to have fish to give to the doctor for the bill he owed and as it happened my daddy Hoyle was with him on this fishing trip and helped to catch some of the fish that were used to pay for my mom's doctor bills. Over the years after that fishing trip my dad never saw my mother again till she was 14 years old. But when he did see her again she was a very beautiful young woman and Dad said that she was the girl he wanted to marry. They did go on to be married on October 3, 1906 and had a long and happy life together.
