Person:Albert Magee (1)

[The following was written in October 2011 by Mary Louise Magee Brumfield, granddaughter of Albert Magee] Mr Albert George Magee, Sr was a very eccentric gentleman of few words. One of his pasttimes was to sit on a wooden keg between Rip Bickham's Grocery Store and a barber shop. Mr Luther Wood generally sat with him and they discussed the news of the day. I'm sure Mr Luther did most of the talking. At an early age Grandpa worked hard and accumulated more than 2,000 acres of land---on the Clifton, Pine and Bogalusa highways, in Hackley, and in the Fisher community. He also had land in Arkansas which he had gotten from a trade of land on Canal Street in New Orleans which was owned by my grandmother [it was owned by Mary Ann Daniel Magee, Albert's mother]. He grew mainly cotton and cattle & hogs. The animals were driven to Covington, put on a Schooner & carried to N.O. Once, Mr Wiley Burris a local banker got a phone call from a policeman in N.O. inquiring about Grandpa who was on the street with a stalk of bananas and a sack. Mr Wiley acknowledged that he knew Mr Albert and asked if the sack was full of money. the policeman said yes & Mr Wiley assured the police that Grandpa was an O.K. person. In the 1930s depression era the WPA built out houses for people in the country. This suited Grandpa fine because he always used one to go in one. We never knew where that wood came from. One day Grandpa was coming home from his farm in Hackley. As he came down the hill near Hays Creek his horse got spooked and the buggy turned over & Grandpa's leg was broken. He did not as much work after that. He also rode a white horse. He loved to sit on the porch & watch the cars go by. To him they were all going to "Tick's Inn," a saloon on the Bogue Chitto River. Uncle Bill said "Good gracious Pa, this highway goes all the way from N.O. to Jackson, Mississippi." Speaking of cars, he never drove one---but one day he gave my mother money to catch a bus to Bogalusa, buy a car, which she did. My sister Anna Dell who was about 4 or 5, used to sit with him on the porch. One day I came around the house & water was dripping off his hat. I guess she thought he was hot so she tried to cool him off. I can see him now laughing about that. Another time Grandpa went to town & sat in his usual spot & had his hands doubled up like a fist. Mr Luther said "Albert what is wrong with your hands?" He told him Anna Dell had painted his nails and he couldn't wash it off. I can hear him now with his cane walking from the porch to the kitchen to sit at the table eating sugar out of the sugar dish. His diet was not healthy, according to our standards today. He liked fried meat, syrup & biscuits. I do not remember his eating many vegetables and fruit, but he lived to a ripe old age despite his poor diet. There was a time when he & family lived at Thompson Creek in West Feliciana Parish. He was a generous man who often left baskets of food on the doorsteps of neighbors. He never told them he was the one but the neighbors would always say "Mr Albert has been here." He wanted no acknowledgment of his many deeds. Never came back to church after Aunt Odile eloped from a revival meeting. We are not so sure he went before. There were memories of his many acts of kindness. Judge Bill Burris related this story---the Burris property south of Hays Creek on the Clifton Highway owed parish taxes. They had cotton and picked as much as they could but still did not have enough to pay the taxes and they were fixing to lose the land---one morning they woke up and saw that Grandpa had brought his crew. They picked enough cotton to pay the taxes and save the land for the Burris family.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Death Certificate, in Louisiana, United States. Certificate of Death. (Louisiana Department of Health, Vital Records Office)
   vol 6, p 632.