Sue Lawson White has a picture on her iPhone showing gas being burned off an oil well on her brother’s property in Amite County.
She and her siblings, including Amite County Supervisor Max Lawson, are keeping a close eye on the fracking operations under way in the region.
They should, considering that they have other mineral interests in the Gillsburg area.
Sue, the widow of McComb lawyer John H. White Jr., can’t help but look to the past as well as to the future and whatever her share of the mineral rights provide.
She thinks about her father, the late Ed Lawson, and how he always told her he believed there was oil on his land.
In her own words, Sue says:
“Daddy started in life at the very bottom and even borrowed five dollars from Mr. Bud and Mrs. Annie Felder to buy his marriage license. He started out on a farm plowing a mule and was paid 50 cents a day, and he later worked over at Camp Van Dorn in Centreville.
“Mrs. Felder owned a farm and offered Daddy a job as a share cropper. We rented a house from her. There were four children in the family during this time and how he took care of us I don’t know.
“A milk route was for sale and Daddy wanted to buy it. He went to the banks in Magnolia and McComb, and no one would loan him the money because he had no collateral. Daddy went to a finance company in Baton Rouge and asked to borrow the money. They told him, ‘Mr. Lawson, you borrowed $100 from us and paid it back on time and we are going to lend you the money.’ I guess that was one break he got in life.
“Mr. Nick Tate owned a big home and nearly 500 acres of land. He sent word for Daddy to come meet him at his home. He told him to come around to the back of his house at 11 o’clock at night and he would be sitting on the back porch. He told Daddy that he wanted him to have his place, and Daddy said, ‘Mr. Tate, you know I don’t have any money.’ Mr. Tate said, ‘That’s all right, we will work it out.’ We moved to this house in 1942.
“Daddy later ran for constable, was elected and did this along with his other jobs.
“One job was picking up calves and cows and taking them to the sale barn. He started buying cows and we later started a dairy and milked by hand for a number of years. The dairy grew and we were able to get milking machines.
“At some point along the way he worked for Mr. Otis Bennett, supervisor of the Fifth District of Amite County, and learned maintenance of roads.
“He later became the supervisor of the Fifth District (a job his son now holds) and served as president of the board for a number of years.
“He purchased the tank trucks that hauled milk to New Orleans and other cities.
“He was a big Democrat and was a delegate to two Democratic conventions.
“Daddy’s brother was is in the Navy and was stationed in Washington state. He learned how to make a certain kind of ice cream and wanted to come back to McComb and open a drive inn.
“He came to see Daddy and said, ‘I guess I’ll have to go back to Washington because I cannot secure financing.’ Daddy said, ‘I’ll sign the note for you,’ and that’s how Lawson’s Drive In got started.”
Another brother, former Pike County Sheriff Tot Lawson, “lived with us when he first got married and drove the milk truck for Daddy,”
Sue says her mother, Delene Hughes Lawson, who died in 1974, “helped with the finances by selling eggs, milk and butter to the loggers who came by our house from Osyka. We had a garden, hogs and chickens. Mama and I handled most of this because Daddy did not have the time.
“When I think of home, I remember how hard I had to work, but I also remember how much my Daddy and Mama loved me.”
Sue, a retired Southwest Mississippi Community College teacher, says she never wanted to live on a farm.
She is the oldest of seven Lawson children, including Max Lawson, Mildred Miller, Burma Carpenter, Joan Lawson, Paul Lawson and the late Gwendolyn Bean.
“Daddy’s foresight in buying many acres of minerals will help his children if the oil boom comes in as predicted,” says Sue. “I only wish he were here to be a part of it.”
