WARNING:THIS POST IS POTENTIALLY CONTROVERSIAL! (I won't be posting this in the OLD DOTHAN MEMORIES Facebook group)
I've begun constructing a timeline of Baker family events which occurred during at approximately the same time as events which are described in the fiction novel, DEVIL MAKE A THIRD. In his 1954 DOTHAN EAGLE obituary, it was stated that Dan Baker, model for the character of Jeff Bannon, first came to Dothan in 1887. That was before the railroad plus Dan's family was still up in Henry County below Abbeville along with his 11 brothers and sisters. Another Baker child would be born in 1888 one more in 1890 so Dan ended up with 13 brothers and sisters. In the novel Buck shows up in Aven AFTER the railroad has come to town and Jeff doesn't come to Aven until Buck builds the big house for the entire family to move into so that would have been about 1890. In the novel, it is important to note that Buck's first words at seeing a prostitute in a brothel was "Jake, them's white girls" (page 30). It is also important to note that Ivy decides to leave Buck when she is in the last months of her pregnancy because he decided to go to the brothel and take care of the business he wasn't able to take care of at home. From these two newspaper clippings, it might seem that Dougie Bailey may have been inspired by the antics of his grandfather, Joe Baker, Sr., instead of his uncle Joe "Buck" Baker, Jr. At the time this article ran in the September 21, 1890 EUFAULA DAILY TIMES, Mrs. Joe (Jane) Baker was about a week away from giving birth her 14th child. It would be a girl and the last of her 7 boys and 7 girls. In Chapter 1 of the novel, Jane's fictional counterpart, Jeannie Bannon, has just had her last child. (page 11: "She was wearing that shapeless dress she always wore when she was going to have another baby. Buck felt a sudden lurch under his ribs as he remembered that he was the first of twelve children. He could call back to mind the births of the last eight."
(September 21, 1890 EUFAULA DAILY TIMES)
I've begun constructing a timeline of Baker family events which occurred during at approximately the same time as events which are described in the fiction novel, DEVIL MAKE A THIRD. In his 1954 DOTHAN EAGLE obituary, it was stated that Dan Baker, model for the character of Jeff Bannon, first came to Dothan in 1887. That was before the railroad plus Dan's family was still up in Henry County below Abbeville along with his 11 brothers and sisters. Another Baker child would be born in 1888 one more in 1890 so Dan ended up with 13 brothers and sisters. In the novel Buck shows up in Aven AFTER the railroad has come to town and Jeff doesn't come to Aven until Buck builds the big house for the entire family to move into so that would have been about 1890. In the novel, it is important to note that Buck's first words at seeing a prostitute in a brothel was "Jake, them's white girls" (page 30). It is also important to note that Ivy decides to leave Buck when she is in the last months of her pregnancy because he decided to go to the brothel and take care of the business he wasn't able to take care of at home. From these two newspaper clippings, it might seem that Dougie Bailey may have been inspired by the antics of his grandfather, Joe Baker, Sr., instead of his uncle Joe "Buck" Baker, Jr. At the time this article ran in the September 21, 1890 EUFAULA DAILY TIMES, Mrs. Joe (Jane) Baker was about a week away from giving birth her 14th child. It would be a girl and the last of her 7 boys and 7 girls. In Chapter 1 of the novel, Jane's fictional counterpart, Jeannie Bannon, has just had her last child. (page 11: "She was wearing that shapeless dress she always wore when she was going to have another baby. Buck felt a sudden lurch under his ribs as he remembered that he was the first of twelve children. He could call back to mind the births of the last eight."
(September 21, 1890 EUFAULA DAILY TIMES)
posted by robertoreg at 3:12 PM
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