Velma Fay Bridges Hinson Green
Velma Fay Bridges was born on August 11, 1914 in Viola, Fulton County, Arkansas. She was the third child of William Stanley and Eva Rowena Haywood Bridges. William Stanley was a native of West Plains, Missouri and the grandson of Orren Dates Bridges who had migrated with his family from Trigg County, Kentucky to Missouri in the 1890s. In 1905, William Stanley married Eva Rowena Haywood. Eva was a Cherokee Indian who was born in the Indian Territory in Oklahoma in 1885. She was a small woman with long straight black hair that hung all the way down her back.
Velma had six siblings, a brother, Virgil Ray, born in 1907; a sister, Dahlia, born in 1911; a brother, Herman Freeman, born in 1915; a sister, Virna Marie, born in 1919; a brother, Eugene Paul, born in 1922 and a sister, Dorothy Agnes, born in 1924.
She grew up in Arkansas and only obtained a third grade education. On November 26, 1932, at the age of 18, she married Roaten Eugene Hinson, the son of a cotton farmer and a native of Logan County, Arkansas. Velma and Roat, as he was known, both worked as sharecroppers working in the fields of Arkansas in the 1930. Velma and Roat had four children, Sadie, Roaten, Jr., Kathron and Gwinn.
Life was very difficult for the Hinson family. In was the middle of the depression, and they became what was known as “Oakies” or “Arkies. They worked their way across the country to California harvesting crops and working in the fields and living in migration camps. They drove a Model A Ford on their journey to California.
After arriving in California, they moved around the state working in the fields picking fruit, cotton, prunes and whatever they could to survive and feed their kids. They finally got permanent jobs after the start of World War II working in defense plants. They settled in Campbell, California and bought a small piece of land where they built a general store with a meat market and attached gas pumps. The family lived upstairs over the store.
In the late 1940s, the Velma and Roat decided to sell their store and move back to Arkansas. They purchased a farm and began growing cotton. Their children were especially happy living on the farm, but unfortunately the farm idea did not work out for the family. So they sold the farm and returned to California.
Times were rough again for Velma and her family after they returned to California. She and Roat were divorced and she had to work at several jobs to raise her four children. She finally got a job as a grocery checker and things improved for the family. Velma then married her second husband, John Wesley Green. The family bought a home and settled in Campbell, California. Velma and John had one son, Jess Green, born in 1953. A few years later, Velma and John were divorced.
Velma died on October 8, 1984 in Campbell, California at the age of 70. She was buried in the Mission City Memorial Park in Santa Clara, California.
Velma Fay Bridges Hinson Green
Tombstone of Velma Fay Bridges Hinson Green
LINEAGE: (Velma May Bridges was the daughter of William Stanley and Eva Rowena Haywood Bridges, granddaughter of John William “Buck” and Nancy Adeline Pugh Bridges, and great-granddaughter of Orren Dates and Mary Elizabeth Hixon Bridges. Orren was the first child of William and Mary Thomas Bridges. William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges. Mary was the fifth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)
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