wandering hillbilly

life of buddy don, chaptur 19:
a lil fambly histry

as ye mite magine, oncet we wuz back in tennessee, we saw my folks n bruthers n sisters more reglar. in fack, whenever darlene n i furst got back, my mama had a big recepshun fer us n purty much the hole fambly frum both sides wuz thar, not includin the furst fambly of uncle jeff, witch that wood be the one that had persilla int. fack is, thay wuz never no menshun of that fambly n i cum to wunder did they exist or wuz it sumthin i jes magined that i membered?

mamas folks cum frum the flatlands round strawberry plains n her maiden name wuz mize. her daddy wuz frum germun stock n her mama wuz a chandler, witch them chandlers wuz scottish. thays sum says my mamas daddy morris mize wuz a jew who quit his relijun n becum apostate or sumthin on a counta his furst wife run off with either the rabbi, ifn he reely wuz a jew, or the reverend, ifn he werent. this happent roun 1913, same year he marrd my grandma. they moved to oklahoma, whar he had a deepartmint store till the depreshun but he lost everthang in 1929, witch thats why he moved back to tennessee, whar he tuck wurk in a coal mine. he died of newmonia, witch ant ruth claims twuz black lung, but dont thank they figgered witch it realy wuz. my mama wuz six at the time, so corse we never met him. dont everbidy go long with him bein a jew, speshully not uncle arnold, who bleevs pure blud is important n he lacks to try to proov it by raisin germun po leece dogs n liftin em up by thar ears.

whenever morris mize died, he lef his wife, witch her name wuz sarah louise chandler, with ten kids to finish razin, tho luckly sum of em wuz dun razed up by then. thay wuz jes one yunger n my mama, n that wuz uncle donald. thangs wuz hard on em, n whenever my mama wuz eleven, her mama marrd a man name of mr william, witch he wuz a mean n sullen man, n purty soon my mama moved out n never went back. she got by sumhow, a'quittin skool n livin with her sister, witch that wood be ant ruth, n wurkin wharever she could lack at the bus stayshun in oak ridge, witch she wuz a'wurking thar whenever my daddy cum thru n spotted her.

daddys fambly wuz frum way up in the mountains. my granddaddy thomas jefferson duncan, witch everbidy callt him tj, wuz born in new river, n his daddy wuz born in a holler that dint have no proper name. twuz a fambly that marrd late in life n ye kin git to the civil war in five generayshuns frum me, n tiz a fack that my grate granddaddy elijah ross duncan fought fer the union n hiz bruther benjamin knox duncan fought fer the south. we never new innybidy frum that line of the fambly.

in sted, we cum frum eiljahs line. even tho he fought fer the union, whenever the war wuz over, he cum home to east tennessee, n twernt a problem on a counta east tennessee, as ye mite no, wuz simpathetickal to the north to sum extint. my daddy claims thats why east tennessee wuz publican when the rest of the south wuz dixiecrat. ye should no by now that daddys fambly wuz all seryus publicans whenever it cum to palltics. thang wuz my mamas fambly wuz biggern n bout half dixicrat even if they wuz livin in east tennessee, so thay wuz lots of vote cancelayshun a'gone on twixt the two sides. 

granddaddy marrd a rich woman frum jonesboro name of rebecca abigail kent, witch everbidy always callt her grandie. they say she wuz frum pure english stock, but we never new much of nuthin bout her fambly on a counta she wuz kicked out of it fer marrn granddaddy.

my daddy wuz born in petros, whar they have brushy mountin state prison, n hiz name wuz elias muir duncan. he had two bruthers n one sister, all born in wartburg. hiz next bruther wuz uncle buster n fack is i dont no his real name, n the next bruther after that wuz uncle jeff, witch his real name wuz thomas jefferson duncan jr, n the next wuz ant roena.

my daddy wuz the eldest n his daddy wuz the eldest n his daddy wuz the eldest n i wuz the eldest, so ye might could thank thay wuz expecktayshuns whenever i wuz born, witch ifn twere so, how kin ye splain why my name turnt out buddy don duncan? i dont no whar they found that name n seem lack my bruther eli got the name i wuz spozed to have. fack is, i had two yunger bruthers n two yunger sisters, n thar names wuz elias muir duncan jr, brewster angus duncan, roena may duncan, n the baby, maisie lynette duncan.

tiz sad to brang up that last name, n i'll splain why by and by.

i jes red back over what i writ thar n i reelize aint nuthin much ye kin git frum it bout how folks wuz. tiz a hard thang to rite, but leest ye no the names. n ye also need to no that thar wernt nuthin more important to my fambly than fambly, n thats why thay had that recepshun fer us even tho i did run off n take the moon pies.