My 80 something year old second cousin down the road grew up extremely poor. His father, my grandfather’s brother, worked for the county and was a commercial fisherman and trapped to supplement their income. He also used Ivory soap on his trot lines, live brim for yellow cats. He and my father also used cottonseed cake from the oil mill to attract fish of all kinds. They would put it in tow sacks or hoop nets and anchor it deep. My grandfather worked at the cottonseed oil meal and he kept them supplied. Oil mills are almost a thing of the past as well as cotton gins. Corn has supplanted it as the major crop.
