Riding in Style: Willis Edgar Musgrove

In 1909, when our grandfather* (see relationship note below) Willis Edgar Musgrove was born, eight businessmen formed the Hudson Motor Company. Their goal was to produce an automobile that would sell for less than $1,000, equivalent to approximately $26,248 in today's funds. Our granddad never owned one.

My grandfather and his oldest
children on the family wagon.

Born September 9, 1909, in Blackshear, Pierce County, Ga, Willis Edgar Musgrove married our grandmother Carrie Mae Merritt, born April 1, 1910, in Bickley, Ware County, Ga, on June 3, 1929. They drove in a mule-drawn wagon from the wedding to the house of her brother, Joe, and his sister, Zilpha. Their siblings had married one another five years before.

Paternal grandparents Willis Edgar and
Carrie (known as) Mae (Merritt) Musgrove

He kept his wagon even after he got a car. His children remember riding in it, but primarily to church. It was rural south Georgia early twentieth century, which wasn't unusual.

Shortly after they married, grandpa bought his first car. It was a 1928 Chevy, slightly used, so he got it for $150.00. The wing of a small plane had hit it. There's a story behind that, but I don't know it.

It was no big deal. Our grandfather simply hacked off the back of the car, put down some boards for a bed, and made it into a 'truck.' He was handy like that.

He kept that '28 hybrid 'truck' even after he bought his next vehicle in 1950. That's a good thing, too. He bought a '48 Ford truck in 1950 but had problems with it 'from the get-go.' In 1951 he traded the Ford for a '50 Chevy. He still had the '28 truck'.

When my dad and his older brother were young, they drove that 'truck' around their big, fenced-in yard in rural south Georgia. One of them drove it into a ditch and got it stuck. The brothers still debate who wrecked it to this day.

Our granddad finally traded it to his brother for 10 or 15 chickens. By some family accounts, he got a milk cow, too. Not a bad return for an old, $150.00 car, hit by a plane, made into a 'truck,' and run into a ditch.

By then, it 'had got to where' you couldn't keep it in gear. Someone notched a stick to remain in the truck. Once you got it into third, you put the notch against the gearshift and wedged the rod against the dashboard to keep it in gear. 

I told you our folks were handy.

Note: Relationships are expressed from the perspective of the grandchildren of Willis Edgar and Carrie (known as) Mae (Merritt) Musgrove. 

*Terms of relationship - grandmother, uncle, aunt, cousin, etc.  - are used here generically to include relatives such as fourth great-grandfathers, great grand uncles, second cousins twice removed, etc.