{"id":830,"date":"2011-10-10T08:45:49","date_gmt":"2011-10-10T13:45:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swishertx.com\/?page_id=830"},"modified":"2011-10-10T08:55:14","modified_gmt":"2011-10-10T13:55:14","slug":"inman","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.swishertx.com\/?page_id=830","title":{"rendered":"Inman"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n


\n2009 Matagorda County
\nGenealogical Family History Essay Winner<\/strong>
\n<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Jack &\u00a0Pauline Inman<\/h1>\n

Written by Katherine “Katee” Endres<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n<\/a><\/span>MCGS President, Joseph Cook, presenting Katee’s
\ncertificate at the meeting on May 25, 2009.<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cJack is as strong as the
\nsteel he has formed over a hot forge most of his life, but so soft
\ninside when it comes to his family.\u00a0 Nothing could harm us when Pop was
\naround.\u00a0 When we are sad he holds us with his calloused hands and makes
\nit all better.\u00a0 When we are happy or successful, he laughs and
\ncelebrates with us.\u00a0 He is a man of few words, but when he does say
\nsomething, you better listen ’cause it is important\u201d is how my
\ngrandmother explains her feelings for her step-father, Jack Inman.<\/span><\/p>\n

Born in Seminole, Oklahoma on
\nSeptember 24th, my great grandfather, Jack Wayne Inman, is one of the
\nmost interesting people I have ever learned about.\u00a0 His parents were
\nBert and Leta [Presley] Inman, yes- she was a distant relative to \u2018The
\nKing of Rock\u2019n\u2019Roll\u2019 Elvis Presley.\u00a0 Jack finished high school in
\nHaskell, Oklahoma, and then later attended Bacone College, a
\npredominately Native American school in Muskogee, Oklahoma.\u00a0 During the
\nsummer of 1948, he married Jane McSpades and moved to Tulia, Texas,
\nwhere he still resides today.\u00a0 Jack and Jane conceived three children:
\nRonald Wayne, Donald Lee, and Janna Kay.\u00a0 They divorced, and later he
\nremarried my great grandmother, Pauline (Polly) Belcher.\u00a0 They got
\nmarried on July 2, 1970.\u00a0 Pauline came into the marriage with two
\nchildren, Paula Ann, my grandmother, and her brother Thomas Earl.\u00a0 They
\nnow had a joined family of five.\u00a0 \u201cI sure got lucky when [Jack] married
\nmom, Tom, and I.\u00a0 He has lots of room in that great big old heart of
\nhis,\u201d says my grandmother.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

On December 25, 1948, Jack\u2019s
\nparents Bert and Leta moved to Tulia so that Jack and his father could
\nopen a partnership doing custom harvesting and operating Inman Welding
\nand Blacksmith Shop in Tulia, Texas.\u00a0 Rumor had it that he had actually
\nwon the business in a poker game, but Jack believes the rumor to be
\nfalse.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout the year, Jack
\nwould travel with the equipment and his harvest hands from Texas to
\nCanada harvesting wheat, maize, and corn.\u00a0 When he wasn\u2019t harvesting, he
\nwould return home to toil in the shop welding and doing blacksmith\u2019s
\nwork.\u00a0 He continued this until their custom harvesting business was
\ndiscontinued forcing him to work in the shop year-round.\u00a0 The shop built
\ntrailers, plows, and rolled discs for farm tractor plows.\u00a0 They also
\nbent horse shoes and did just about anything to do with metal.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Jack once told my grandmother
\nthat \u201c[he] love[s] both welding and blacksmithing, but it sure [gets] so
\nhot and so smoky that welding is probably [his] favorite.\u201d\u00a0 He uses coal
\nfor the forge and has to travel all the way to Arkansas to get a special
\ncoal that smithy\u2019s use called anthracite.\u00a0 Blacksmith\u2019s also use
\nbellows, anvils, a 50 pound hammer operated by a foot pedal, and have a
\nwater tank behind the forge used to cool the fiery hot steel.\u00a0 Sometimes
\nfarmers would bring their newly bought equipment in and would get my
\ngreat-grandfather to put a hard surface on the plows to keep them from
\nwearing.\u00a0 The surface Jack put on them was used on the bottom for harder
\nsoils, and the top for sandy ground.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bert Inman, Jack\u2019s father,
\nretired in 1974.\u00a0 With Bert\u2019s retirement, Jack bought out his half of
\nthe business to be the full owner.\u00a0 Tulia High School wanted to set up a
\nwelding course at the high school and went to Jack for help; he helped
\nset up the course and taught it for a while.\u00a0 He really enjoyed teaching
\nthe course for two reasons: he was doing what he loved, and he enjoyed
\nbeing around the lively young people.<\/span><\/p>\n

About a year and a half ago,
\nJack sold most of his shop equipment and the building where his shop had
\nonce been.\u00a0 This action made everyone believe he was headed for
\nretirement, but they were wrong.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t believe he will quit working
\nuntil the day he dies.\u00a0 That\u2019s not Jack\u2019s way,\u201d is how my grandmother
\nexplains her father\u2019s working habits.\u00a0 Instead of retiring like everyone
\nthought he would, he opened a smaller shop closer to home and was back
\nin business within months.\u00a0 He still welds today; mostly working on
\nfeeders and hay transport trailers.\u00a0 He is currently repairing a feed
\ntruck that has four twenty-four inch augers that run from front to back
\nto mix the feed as the truck drives to the cattle pens, then a side dump
\nallowed the feed to be put in the cattle feeders.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is hard work being a
\nsmithy and the years of working over the forge have taken a toll on
\nJack\u2019s poor ole worn out body.\u201d\u00a0 Today, there are few true blacksmith\u2019s
\nleft in Texas, especially in the panhandle where my great-grandfather
\nresides.\u00a0 It is becoming a lost art, which truly makes me proud to say
\nthat my seventy-eight year old great-grandfather, Jack Inman, is a Texas
\nBlacksmith, and is still working hard to this day.<\/span><\/p>\n

Courtesy of Katherine “Katee” Endres<\/p>\n

<\/div>