Memories of Charlton County - by Gibson and Mays Back to Table of Contents 19. THE CHESSERS OF CHESSER ISLAND (Pp 32-33) When I was young, there were two
sets of Chesser families that lived on Chesser Island, and I visited there many times, spending several days hunting and fishing with the boys that lived there. The Robert Allen Chesser family and the Sam Chesser family lived near one another and each had sons about my age. Uncle Sam Chesser had a son named John who was in the military service during World War I and after the war he was discharged and came home on the train. Emory Dean happened to be at the depot when the
train came in and when he saw John get off, he told him he would take him home in his car. Emory took him to Chesser Island that day and then decided to go back out there the next day to listen to John tell about his war experiences. When he got there, John was dead! He had lied that night and I never did know what killed him unless it was something he ate. I loved to bird hunt and fish and remember walking out to Chesser Island one time to spend several days hunting and
fishing. Harry and I, along with the rest of the two Chesser families, had been to church at Sardis on Sunday. The older men and women and the girls rode in wagons on the way home and the boys and I walked behind them all the way to the island. It was a long walk and it was dark when we got there and we were all as hungry as could be. We had to go through a slough before we could get on the island. They had corduroyed the narrow part of it by cutting poles and laying them
side-by-side and this made a firm passageway for the wagons. When we crossed the slough the older men began to holler "HOO AAAYE HOO! HOO AAAYE HOO!" I said, "Harry, what are they hollering about?" He told me it was to let the boys at home know that they were coming. It was their custom to always leave one son in each family in charge of the stock when the rest left the island to go to church. They took care of the chores while the others were gone and
they had supper ready for them when they returned. After we crossed the slough we could see the two houses which were about a block apart. Those that had stayed at home met us and took the horses and wagons to the barn. They said "Youall go on in. Supper is on the table." We went in and found the table loaded down with sausage, sweet potatoes, rice and hot biscuits. They made the best sweet potatoes and syrup that could be found anywhere. And those biscuits were
as good as any woman could make. I remember till now that that was the best supper I ever ate! | 
