Nathan Blackford - 1900 to 1936

In the Twelfth Census of the United States on June 22, 1900, Nathan was on his own living with his wife, Ethel and sons Jessie S. and Carl A. in Dist. 37, Horsehead, Johnson Co., Arkansas. His parents William and Mary Jane were in District 40, King, Johnson Co., Arkansas. Nathan’s occupation was listed as farmer.

[Side note: I was hoping to find those locations to see how close Nathan lived to his father and mother in 1900. On my trusty Mapquest.com, I am unable to find either Horsehead or King, Arkansas. Perhaps we could find District 37 and 40 in Johnson County to determine their proximity, but at any rate, I expect they were within a few miles of each other.]

District 148 in Springdale, Washington County, Arkansas was where Nathan and his family lived at the time of the 1910 Census. Springdale is 67 miles North of Ft. Smith and 100 miles Northwest of Clarksville. By that time, Jess no longer lived at home, but Ethel and Nathan had four children. The children were Angus, 11, Silas, 9, Buster 5, and Paul 2. Nathan’s occupation was listed as farm laborer on a fruit farm.

By 1918 Nathan and family had moved to Paden, Oklahoma. Carl Angus Blackford, age 20 at the time, completed a World War I Draft Registration Card and listed N.T. Blackford as his parent living in Paden. The 1920 Census shows Nathan and family in Dist. 21 of Paden, Okfuskee County, Oklahoma. Paden is 126 miles due West (young man) from Ft. Smith, Arkansas. His sixth and last child, Ruby, was 8 by then, and Angus, Silas, Buster and Paul were all still at home. Nathan worked as a clerk in a store in 1920.

Paden, Oklahoma had a population of 446 persons in the 2000 Census. From the listings on the Internet, it appears to be a typical small town. It’s so “due West” from Ft. Smith and “due East” (about 53 miles) of Oklahoma City one would wonder if it had been a stop on a railroad line. One could guess that Nathan and family bought a ticket on the railroad and Paden was the furthest West they could afford. They got off and Nathan got a job. Remember, those are just guesses on my part.

Sixty-one years old and still in Paden, Nathan worked as a laborer in 1930. Only two of his children were still living at home, Paul 21 whose occupation was mail carrier and Ruby, 18. Ethel was still alive then, too.

By 1936 Nathan lived in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas because it was here that he died. I know that his son, Paul, worked at the Pearl Brewery in San Antonio. My father, Raymond Blackford, told me that his Grandpa Blackford (Nathan) used to love to spend time sitting at the San Antonio Zoo in his last years. The San Antonio Zoo is within walking distance from the site of the former Pearl Brewery. I expect he lived close to it. I’ve often thought of Nathan when I have visited that zoo over the last thirty-one years I’ve lived in San Antonio. I’ve wondered the zoo’s location in the early ‘30’s and which parts were built by then. I’ve always had a particular bench in the present zoo at which I pictured Nathan sitting. In looking at the history of the San Antonio Zoo, I noticed the following quote: “In November 1929, two of the first cageless exhibits in America--the Barless Bear Terraces and the Primate Paradise--opened, offering visitors unprecedented views of animals.” The Barless Bear Terraces are still there, and the bench I always thought would have been Nathan’s turns out to be by, you guessed it, the Barless Bear Terraces.

Nathan is buried at the Mission Park South Cemetery at 1700 S.E. Military Drive, San Antonio, Texas. Years ago, my dad and I visited his grave there. It’s in a beautiful, shady area not far from the San Antonio River.