James Warren Hale, my maternal grandfather, was,
primarily, a laborer on the railroad but he was also an aspiring writer. Beginning in 1942, and likely earlier, he
wrote a total of 28 short stories, plays or novels –5916 pages -- in 35 journals. The journals are a mix of hard cover “Record”
books and spiral bound notebooks. Most
of his stories are very simple and written in ink with a small but neat cursive
handwriting.
I recall seeing a few of these stories along with a
typewriter on a table in the bedroom he used at the Askew Farm near Meridian,
Mississippi. This would have been in the
late 1950s. I thought there were only a
few stories. After his death in 1966,
his daughter, Jeannette Hill, kept the manuscripts. Jeannette died in 2004. After the death of her husband John in 2018,
I asked their son, John if he was aware of the stories and if they were anywhere
to be found. John eventually found the
manuscripts in an old suitcase. John
gave the manuscripts to me and I began to study them.
I typed three of his stories, including his autobiographical
“Railroad Man” and have now put them in a book, “The Times, Life and Stories ofJ. W. Hale” along with some genealogical information. The book also includes a short autobiography
about growing up in the late 1800s that was written by Dr. R. E. Hale, brother
of J. W. Hale as well as a history of the Elizabeth Presbyterian Church that
they attended. I’ve self-published this
book on Amazon in both paperback and ebook format so others have access to it.
Frankly, these are not good stories but I’m pleased to have
them. They tell a little more about the
grandfather that I barely knew. In
particular, his autobiographical sketch, “Railroad Man”, provides a lot of
background information.
My grandfather may not have actually intended for his
stories to be read but I’m pleased to make him a published author.
