“Things Old – Part 2”

Speaking of “things old”, one other thing I have around my house that is really special to me is this old metal yard chair, or porch chair, as some people used to call them.  This chair is definitely an antique, and I’m convinced that it is a very unique chair, for a couple of reasons…

First, you can see how the frame of the chair was constructed with 1/4″ thick metal bands, or spring steel.  Many of the later metal yard chairs were made similarly, but instead of the spring steel, they would use bent round tubing instead.  The round tubing worked fine, but not nearly as well as the spring steel type.  Once the round tubing started collecting moisture in it, rust would form, weakening the tubing.  The next thing you knew, you were on the ground with your glass of sweet tea in your lap!

You can search Google for chairs like this, using terms like “metal yard chair”, “metal porch chair”, “metal spring back chair”, and so on, and you will find very few images of chairs that are even remotely like this one.  There are lots of chairs shown with round tubing, but none with a metal spring frame.  My theory is that this chair was made sometime before 1941, before the U.S. war effort restricted the use of metal on things like this.  After the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese and the declaration of war, Americans were urged to collect scrap metal for recycling to build tanks, guns, airplanes, etc.  Nothing like this chair would have been manufactured during the war years.  I’m sure after World War II was over, production of yard chairs resumed, but by then they would have made them with round tubing, which was cheaper and more geared to the burgeoning post-war consumer market.  So this chair is pretty unique!

But if you want to know what really makes this chair special for me, take a close look at these pictures!  They were all taken around 74 years ago at the home of my Great-grandparents, Allen Neathery “Ned” Henslee and Nancy Isabel “Nannie” Wells Henslee.  They lived on a farm about 3 miles southwest of Farmersville, Texas.  If you look closely, you’ll notice the same yard chair in each one of them.  (Click on the picture and it will enlarge for you).  In the first picture

you can see one of their daughters, Martha (my Grandmother Mimi), holding her daughter (my Mom Nancy, our Nannie!), in the front yard of the house.  Sitting back on the front porch of the farmhouse is the chair.  Mom was about 3 at the time this was taken.

In this picture,

you can see Mom again, on the front porch, playing with her favorite baby buggy.  Just behind the baby carriage is the chair.

In this one, you can see Grandad holding his new grand-daughter (Mom) while sitting in the chair on his front porch.  I wonder what they were talking about?

This next picture shows both of my Great-grandparents, along with one of their sons, Bill, who was in the Army at the time.

Note the cigar in his left hand, and if you can zoom in really close, you’ll see an Aggie ring on his finger!  He along with his brother Frank, both served our country during World War II.  I like to try and imagine what Grandad was thinking about when this picture was taken.  Was he thinking about his sons, heading off to the Pacific theater of the war?  Was he thinking about his onion crop?  Look how tanned his face and hands were.  Where was Grandma off to?  She was certainly dressed up!  Church maybe?

I was only at that house a few times when I was a child, but I have such vivid memories of it.  Perhaps I sat in that chair myself when I was a little boy!  Mr. Henslee had been gone for more than 18 years when I was visiting the house, but my Grandmother (Mimi) and my Aunt Ruth still lived there.  I remember laying in the bed at night in that upstairs bedroom in the upper right corner of the picture, windows open, breeze blowing through, listening to the whippoorwills outside and creaky floors inside.

There was a train track just about 200 feet from the house and if I was lucky, a freight train would come through at night.  I’d listen for that faintest sound of a far-off train, like a ship heading across the ocean, into our port.  As it grew louder and louder by the second, it seemed as if it would literally come crashing right into the house, right through the front door!  I would wonder about what far-off place that train had come from, and where it was going.  I honestly think that’s why I’m so fascinated with trains to this day.

Sometimes I would find my Uncle Allen’s portable AM radio, pull up the antenna and listen to far away radio stations.  It was amazing what you could hear on a clear night out in the country like that….a ball game from St. Louis, some preacher from Little Rock, rock music from San Antonio, maybe even a comedy show from Chicago.  If the batteries were fresh, the whole world would come into that farmhouse window!

The chair is freshly painted now.  Maybe one of these days somebody will take a picture of me holding my granddaughter or grandson while I’m sitting in it (no pressure on you, my girls!).  Even if that doesn’t happen, I’ll treasure it as a valuable link to my family’s history.