THE LAND WE CARRY
A family story rooted in land and memory.
Our family story centers on Pleasant S. Donaldson (May 4, 1882–July 3, 1933) and Sadie (Elliott) Donaldson. We remember them as part of a family whose connection to this land continued through their descendants.
Our family’s account is that acreage was held across generations and is still actively farmed by our family today. Physical deeds and Dixie Oil Company contracts are the documentary basis our family carries for this history. The story is here whether or not images of those papers have been uploaded to the exhibit below.
WHAT WAS PASSED DOWN
Muskogee Creek oral history.
Our Muskogee Creek oral history was passed down through my father and Aunt Pearl Barbara. In our family, that history is part of how we understand our connection to this place and the people who came before us.
THE ROADSIDE MARKER, AND OUR FAMILY’S ACCOUNT
The roadside marker tells a lumber-company story and names Robert E. Yarrow/Yarbo. Our family account remembers the land and its history differently: it begins with the Donaldson and Elliott family, our Muskogee Creek oral history, and the records and memories kept across generations. We share the contrast as family history and keep the marker’s account distinct from ours.
A FAMILY-SUPPLIED VIDEO
Watch the story.
THE FAMILY’S HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
A chronology we carry.
As told by our family
- 01
Act 1 — Spencer and the turpentine works
In our family chronology, the area was called Spencer. We remember E.L. Jordan arriving there and establishing worker shacks and a store for the people who worked in the area.
Jordan also set up a turpentine still, which our family describes as a distillery for processing longleaf pine pitch into turpentine and rosin. This is how the family account places the early work and settlement in Spencer.
- 02
Act 2 — Yarborough Lumber Company
The next act in our family’s chronology is 1917, when Robert E. Yarbrough and his brother Jeff formed Yarborough Lumber Company and established a sawmill.
Our family says Robert E. Yarbrough shortened his name to “Yarbo” on a U.S. Post Office application for company mail. In our account, that shortened name was used for the company’s mail and did not replace the family’s own history of the place.
- 03
Act 3 — The sawmill changes hands
According to our family account, in April 1918 Yarbrough sold the sawmill and timber leases to Ingram-Day Lumber Company of Lyman, Mississippi, and then left Washington County.
Our family says he left no children, homestead deed, or headstone. We also understand “Yarbo” to have remained as a temporary company label on government maps for 37 years because postal registries did not automatically rename the post office.
- 04
After the pine was clear-cut
Our family places the next change after the pine was clear-cut by 1946. We remember E.L. Jordan buying the remaining machinery, moving it down Highway 17, and naming another location Jordan, Alabama.
That later move closes this sequence in our family’s telling: Spencer, the lumber company years, the sale and departure, and the machinery carried on to another place.
FAMILY-HELD DOCUMENTS
Deeds and Dixie Oil leases.
Images appear here when the family chooses to publish them. The narrative above stands on its own.