Joe Blacksher

Birth: He was born in 1916 in Ohio.  

Family Information: Son of Mary Roe.

Grandson of Alice Aiton. Nephew of Violet Dix.

Step-son of Ben Roe.

Step-brother of Robert, Warren, Walter, Frances and Lucille Roe.

At some point before August 1935 he married Ruby Blacksher; they set up residence in the colony where she helped out at the hotel.

Description: His US Army Enlistment papers dated October 30, 1940 described him as being 69" tall; weight - 167 pounds.  

Pre-Colony History: In 1920 Joe, age 3, his brother age 5, and their uncle, Lewis Roberts age 15 were living as boarders with the Alice Watts family in Arkansas.  

Home in Colony: In March 1929 the Brattland family moved into the little house where Violet Dix had been living and Violet and her sister (and presumably their children) went together into the Rogers house.

In 1930 he was living in the colony with his mother and her new husband, Ben Roe.

At some point he married -- in August 1935 he and his wife, Ruby, took up their abode in the colony and were living in the house recently vacated by the Crossland's.

Job in Colony: In September 1930 he was among a group of boys assigned to help in the peanut field on the morning shift; the group included: Ward Shoemaker, Joe Blacksher, Ero Hewerdine, Roy Swenson, Cecil Thompson, Carl Kittle and Alfred Boulton.

In 1935 he was assigned to a shift at the boilers.

Other Info: He was often part of the programs at the theater in 1929. In May 1931 Miss Daisy Brown trained some dozen children to take parts in a little playlet called "The Census Taker" including Joe as the father and Rachel Valleau as the mother; Blen Still played the census taker and the children were played by Jeanette Wooley, Ellen Jernberg, Iris Busick, Ernest Ogden, Bill Ogden, Andrew Parson, Liljean Corbett, Warren Roe, Leola Bays, Rozella and Quentin Quipp.

In March 1930 he, along with Ted Palmer and Sonny saw a smoke wreath in the mule pasture during their recess and they acted quickly to put out the fire.

In 1932 he played the mellophone horn in the newly organized Junior Orchestra which was being organized and taught by Fred Hamel.

Post-Colony History: In 1940 Joe was living at Mt. Airy Center in Green, Ohio where he worked as a dairy hand. Also in 1940 he enlisted as a private in the US Army Infantry for the Panama Canal Department.  

Death: He died in 1993 in Tennessee.  

Sources: US Census: 1920, 1930, 1940; "Vernon Parish Democrat": February 28, 1929; "Llano Colonist": March 2, 1929, March 1, 1930, March 22, 1930, September 27, 1930, May 30, 1931, December 10, 1932, May 25, 1935, August 24, 1935; USWWII Army Enlistment Records; US Department of Veterans Afairs BIRLS Death File