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Essay on Charles Arthur Floyd-pretty boy Floyd
Charles Arthur Floyd, soon to be called “Chock Floyd” (Web 1), was born on February 3, 1904 in Georgia, one of seven children, but moved to a small farming community in Oklahoma, which he was to call home. His parents had a small farm they were dirt-poor. His father spent most of his time trying to stay one step ahead of foreclosure. Droughts, plagues and dust storms brought farm production down to a crawl. In an attempt to help keep them fed the family became involved in the bootlegging business. He was the fourth of an eventual eight children born to Walter Lee Floyd and Minnie Echols, a hard-working farming couple whose combined familial roots went back many decades in Southern tradition.
There wasn't a pampered one among the Floyd siblings Carl Bradley, Rossie Ruth, Ruby Mae, Charles, Emma, Lucille, Edward and Mary Delta; they were expected to pitch in with the farmwork and housecleaning chores and, before sunset, learn the Bible as taught by mother Minnie. Young Charlie tended to his tasks without argument. He showed a good nature and often told jokes and pulled pranks on his brothers and sisters, tricks to lighten the workload.
The Floyd family moved to nearby Akins about 1915, where the soil provided better crop growth. Here, they raised most of their own food such as potatoes, apples and peaches; they raised and canned their own vegetables. They cured their own meat, produced lard, made corn meal, and raised sorghum for molasses. Walter made enough money to buy a truck and earned extra income by hauling freight between Sallisaw and Akins. Finally, “he opened a general store in Akins” (Borus, 1992).
Schooling was a luxury for the children of Cookson Hills families. There was too much work to do at home, and fathers saw a boy's apprenticeship on the farm as a much more practical way of preparing for manhood than reading, writing and arithmetic.....
