William Wesley Head ^{2 3 4 5 6}

   Cause of his death was aplastic anemia.⁷

  General Notes:

At the time of the 1910 and 1920 census, Wesley was farming on a rented farm in Mills County, Texas. When he registered for the WWI draft on 5 Jun 1917, he had a wife and 3 children under 12. He claimed an exemption because of a defect on his left knee. By 1930, he owned his farm in Mills County, Texas.

Excerpt from "Mills County Memories":
In November 1927, Wesley received title to 328 acres from his father. Besides growing cotton, grain, and hay, Wesley was one of the first to graft and bud paper shell pecans for his pecan orchard. Most of those trees are still in production at this time.

He also had a steam powered thrashing machine which required a working force of thirty men. The separator was powered by a steam 60 HP Case tractor. After a day's hard work, when the evening meal was over, the men enjoyed a steam shower from the steam engine. One worker always said one shower was equal to two hours sleep, so take two showers then go back to work.

Thrashing time was always a very exciting time for the children who lived on the grain farms. It was a sight to see the men, wagons and horses come in first. Then came the big, big steam engine pulling the big, big, separator, so it seemed to the children. It was also very exciting to see the men pitch the bundles of grain into the separator and see the grain come out then the hay piled in a big stack.

Wesley and family always had a portion of their land in cotton. The boys always looked forward to the last bale so they could go with their dad to the gin. Cotton was the money crop for the family and that meant new clothes for school.

In 1919, Wesley and Idel decided to take a trip along with Chester, Talmage, and Wilson, their only children at this time. Their transportation was a 1916 Model T. They loaded their bedding, cooking utensils and food and away they went to West Texas. Wesley had Uncles around Snyder. The boys were interested in Prairie dogs and their burrows, the first they had ever seen. They carried buckets of water but never succeeded in filling a home made by the animals.

On leaving Snyder and on their way to Colorado City they had to cross a railroad track. In that day the crossings were built higher than the roadway causing the cars to sometimes shall when crossing. On this day it happened and looking down the track they saw the train coming toward them. Wesley climbed over the driver's side of the car since it had no door and pushed the car off the tracks. The engineer blew the whistle and waived as the train passed. The boys all managed to wave back even though they were weak from fright.

From Colorado City they headed to Clovis, New Mexico. What sights to behold! Their very first time to see an irrigation well with all that beautiful cold water gushing forth. It was a thrill to see all the things growing especially the strawberries, since they had never eaten strawberries, that was a real treat.

The Wesley Heads lived in a four room boxed house about one mile from their grandfather, C.A. Head. The boys walked to school, crossing the W.E. Reid place, then by the Rock House, crossing Bennett Creek on the old iron bride where several boys left pieces of their tongues on the really cold days, then on to the Center City school house. In 1924 they moved closer to the creek but farther from school. At the location they had some neighbors, the J.C. Blackwell family. ⁶

  Additional Information:

• Death Certificate Image: here.

William married Annie Idell Lucas, daughter of William T. Lucas and Frances C. White, on 3 Apr 1909 in Center City, Mills County, Texas.¹ (Annie Idell Lucas was born in Sep 1891,¹⁰ died on 21 Sep 1955 in Goldthwaite, Mills County, Texas ^{9 11} and was buried in Goldthwaite Memorial Cemetery, Goldthwaite, Mills County, Texas ¹¹.). The cause of her death was carcinoma of stomach.⁷

  Marriage Notes:

N. G. Ozment of Center City, Texas, performed the ceremony.