By Miller Jakes
Hello: I'm Miller Jakes, son of Una Moore
Jakes, and grandson of Joseph B. Moore, Sr. I grew up in Old Hickory, TN, near Nashville.
My aunt, Dorothy Moore, lives across the road from what is now Crawford's Store. At one
time it was Campbell's Store and another time Tinsley's Store. I used to spend a lot of
time during the summer and almost every Christmas at Dancyville. These are some of my
childhood memories:
I remember waking (it seems like at daybreak) to the sound of tires being repaired at the
store - they had to break them down by beating them with sledge hammers. And you could
hear that air compressor going on and off. . Soon you would hear tractors racing up and
down the road on the way to the fields.
When my father was there, I could count on going to the pond for a day of fishing,just my
dad and me.
I knew every morning I was going to get up and run down to D. C. Crawford's house to play
with his sons, Craig and Bill. George Willis Crawford,
D. C.'s brother, had a store then and we would bug him out of a drink and some
snacks. If it was cotton season, we would sneak to the gin and jump
in the trailers of cotton or run through the gin until we were run out. Sometimes we would
go to Brownsville to the swimming pool. We would always
stop at the DQ near the Interstate and eat. I can still taste those milk shakes and
burgers! My aunt always bought us what we wanted. She was so good to us.
I remember back in the early l960's my grandfather taking me to the cotton fields as the
workers picked cotton, their long white bags stuffed with cotton dragging behind them. I
felt so special waiting in the truck as my grandfather hurried them along.
Once on a very cold night, my aunt and my mother heated bricks, wrapped them in towels,
and put them under the covers at my feet. They said that was the way my grandmother did
for them when they were little.
I also remember going up to the Methodist Church and ringing the church bell. I thought
that was neat.
As I got older, I looked up to my cousin, Joey Moore. When I grew up, I wanted to be just
like him. He would take me to the fields with him
sometimes when he would spray, plow or bushhog.
We would have cattle round-ups every year. My job was wrestling young calves to the
ground. Those were fun days. Everybody in the family would be there. My aunt would fix a
big lunch and that evening we would go to Bozo's or have something at my aunt's house.
My aunt's home is very special to me. These memories I have carried all my life and feel
today as if they just happened. They will never leave me and I still think of them,
wishing I were there right now.
Let me say, too, that the people of Dancyville are the warmest, kindest ever. They are
special. Thanks for allowing me to be a part of their history.
Miller Jakes
WE TRULY APPRECIATE MILLER SHARING HIS CHILDHOOD MEMORIES OF DANCYVILLE.