The story of rain in Mobile, Alabama

During the 1930s, Great Depression era, many writers were employed to interview people around the United States, so their experiences and life history could be recorded The program was named the U.S. Work Projects Administration, Federal Writers’ Project and it gave employment for historians, teachers, writers, librarians, and other white-collar workers. This is a transcribed story by one of the writers Mary A. Poole.

COINCIDENTS AND SUPERSCRIPTIONS

Story of Rain in Mobile, Alabama

compiled by

Mary A. Poole

Week of Nov. 6, 1936

In the 80’s in Mobile, there was an organization known as the “German Relief Association”, and affiliated with it was a band of athletes, members of the Mobile Turnervereine. These later performed all kind of feats in Callisthenics, among which were men of unusual skill on the bars and in jumping and tumbling.

On May 1^st the German Relief gave a picnic and it was a standing joke, that Mobile would have rain when the German Relief had their picnic. However, they held to their date of May 1^st even though it usually meant not only one but sometimes two postponements. One year, it was an extra dry spring season, and a Mr. Homer, a farmer living on Old Shell Road about three miles from the city, wrote to the German Relief asking them to have their picnic earlier, so the Mobile farmers could have the badly needed rain for their crops, promising them $100.00 if they produced the rain.

On bay, shell road – Mobile, Alabama – 1901 – Detroit Publishing Co. (Library of Congress)

They agreed, arranged for picnic, and it rained a regular downpour. At first, it was all taken as a joke, but the Association held Homer to his agreement, however, he paid cheerfully saying it was one of his best investments as his crops and those of his neighbors profited by it.

ALABAMA FOOTPRINTS Confrontation: Lost & Forgotten Stories is a collection of lost and forgotten stories that reveals why and how the confrontation between the Native American population and settlers developed into the Creek-Indian War as well as stories of the bravery and heroism of participants from both sides.

Some stores include:

Tecumseh Causes Earthquake
Terrified Settlers Abandon Farms
Survivor Stories From Fort Mims Massacre
Hillabee Massacre
Threat of Starvation Men Turn To Mutiny
Red Eagle After The War

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ALABAMA FOOTPRINTS Confrontation:: Lost & Forgotten Stories (Volume 4) (Kindle Edition)

By (author): Donna R Causey

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About Donna R Causey

Donna R. Causey, resident of Alabama, was a teacher in the public school system for twenty years. When she retired, Donna found time to focus on her lifetime passion for historical writing. She developed the websites www.alabamapioneers and www.daysgoneby.me All her books can be purchased at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. She has authored numerous genealogy books. RIBBON OF LOVE: A Novel Of Colonial America (TAPESTRY OF LOVE) is her first novel in the Tapestry of Love about her family where she uses actual characters, facts, dates and places to create a story about life as it might have happened in colonial Virginia. Faith and Courage: Tapestry of Love (Volume 2) is the second book and the third FreeHearts: A Novel of Colonial America (Book 3 in the Tapestry of Love Series) Discordance: The Cottinghams (Volume 1) is the continuation of the story. . For a complete list of books, visit Donna R Causey