Franklin Country History Association Newsletter, Volume 13, Number 6, November & December 2008

Click the "FCHA Calendar" tab to the left to find the Calendar of FCHA Meetings for the current year.  Late in the year the list of meetings and events grows short, as we await the approval of a list for the coming year.  However, on our calendar we sometimes note exciting community events coming up, such as those associated with the annual CountryFest, held every year on the second Saturday of October.  We also invite you to visit the local newspaper's excellent community calendar at the following URL:

http://www.mt-vernon.com/webcalendar/month.php

Please show your support to the Franklin County Historical Association and the preservation of our county by joining and paying your dues. We are promoting and sustaining an attitude of pride within the community.

See the "How to Join" tab to the left for the form to use in renewing your membership or in becoming a member for the first time.  Dues for the year 2008 are past due!  Send payment to the FCHA at P. O. Box 289, Mt. Vernon, TX 75457.  Following are the categories of membership: 

Individual $15
Family $25
Patron $50
Sponsor $100

Along with the general meeting notice, you will find the following new and repeated items from the newsletter:

New Items Below:

TPWD Produces Prize-Winning Video of Our Egg Collection
Beverly Brewer Showcased
Still An Opportunity To View “Handmade Holiday” Exhibit
Letter to the Editor
Geocaching: What It Is and How It Started
Memoirs from a Civil War Veteran
Historic Photos
Memorial Gifts

Excerpt from Earlier Editions:

Musings, by B. F. Hicks

At the bottom of this page, there will be letters from historians requesting information:

Information on Civil War Veterans of Franklin and Titus Counties

World War II Scrapbooks and Other Information (Maybe you have some of those letters such as Bill Mauldin saw soldiers writing during breaks in the action.)

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Produces Prize-Winning Video of Our Egg Collection

Clifford Shackelford (Clifford.Shackelford@tpwd.state.tx.us) writes to B. F. Hicks on the subject of the nomination of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Mt Vernon egg video for an award:
Hi BF,
Great news! I just found out that the Mt. Vernon egg story lies been nominated for a Lone Star Emmy Award. To read more about it, please visit this site:
http://www.lonestaremmy.org/_emmy_awards/2008_nominees.php
and scroll down about halfway down this lengthy page until you find the category ''Texas Heritage - News Single Story.''  You'll see it listed there : ''Eggsotic Collection'' by Karen Loke with TPWD.   Please spread the word around town. The awards are this weekend in Houston - my fingers are
crossed!
Take care,
Cliff

CREATORS AND DONORS OF THE BUTTERFLY AND EGG COLLECTIONS

Alonzo Winters Nations (known as A. W.), was born June 21, 1898, and passed away September 14, 1977. A. W. was a pharmacist and an amateur lepidopterist, as well as a veteran of “The Great War.” Inside the door of the room where the egg collection is kept, you can see him in his World War I uniform.

His wife, Corinne, was born December 24, 1900, and passed away September 7, 1993. Their son, Manton Alonzo Nations, who donated the collections to our museum, was born October 21, 1922, and lives today in Colleyville, Texas. His wife, Dorothy Isbell Nations, born March 22, 1924, passed away September 12, 2007. 

Beverly Brewer Showcased

By Lillie Bush-Reves

The Franklin County Historical Association opened an exhibit Saturday, Oct. 11, in the Old Fire Station Museum showcasing artwork by Beverly Brewer. A reception honoring her was conducted that evening. Mrs. Brewer’s drawings illustrated the Franklin County Historical Association’s latest publication, “Driving Mt. Vernon.” She was on hand for a book signing during the evening reception hours.

Forty oil paintings, seventy-five pen-and-ink drawings, five pencil drawings and twenty fine art gourds were on display. Aristotle said, “The aim of art is to represent not the appearance of things, but their inner significance.” This is the maxim adopted by Mrs. Brewer for her artistic endeavors.

Mrs. Brewer grew up in Ponca City, Okla., a town of approximately 25,000 in northern part of the state. Always interested in art, she originally majored in fine arts at OklahomaStateUniversity. She switched to majoring in education. After graduating with a B.S. degree, she and husband, Cletus, moved to Oklahoma City, where they had two sons. The family of four then moved to Dallas. She had a 27-year career in the field of teaching. Some of her spare time was spent working with stained glass. After retirement, they moved to Lake Cypress Springs.

For the past two years, she has worked with putting fine art design on gourds, incorporating photography and acrylics. Her objective is to create beauty both she and others can appreciate. Mrs. Brewer serves the community by sharing her talent with different organizations. She has illustrated several publications for the Franklin County Historical Association as well as several pen-and-ink renditions of homes and buildings for Mount Vernonfamilies. She designed the Franklin County Arts Alliance logo, a butterfly forming the words “The arts free your soul.”

The exhibit will remain on display through April 1, 2009.

Still an Opportunity to View "Handmade Holiday"

By Lillie Bush-Reves

If you’ve missed or did not have enough time to view the Handmade Holidays exhibit during CountryFest there is still an opportunity to do so. The exhibit will be open from 10 A.M. to 1 P.M. each Saturday, through Dec. 6 and at other times by appointment. The exhibit is in the restored depot on Kaufman Street and includes several hundred items ranging from large festive quilts to small detailed ornaments.

Sue Soetenga will demonstrate the art of making a woven Gennan ornament. Both the ornaments made in the demonstration and a few pieces of Battenberg lace will be available for purchase. Funds will go to the operation of the museums.

“The nature of handwork is a slow intricate process, so the handwork shown is a collection overtime. It truly is a body of historical work within each family,” Sue Soetenga, event coordinator, commented. More than 10 families have shared their artwork or the needle work from their family collections. Families with pieces in the exhibit include Henry Ortel, Virginia Dillard, Connie McGill, B.F. Hicks, Jackie Stemple, Libby Milton, Betsy Cook, Beverly Strange, Joy Rutledge, and Sue Soetenga.

Pieces of note include a red and white feather star quilt, which was hand pieced and hand quilted in the 1860s. It is part of the B.F. Hicks collection. A group of seven vibrant Christmas quilts will showcase the sewing skills of local artisan Joy Rutledge. Wool felt applique and decorative banners with sequins and beads, so popular in the 1890s, is a contribution of Libby Milton. Cross stitch Nativity figures mounted on straw wreath frames is the work of Virginia Dillard, a lady who does needle work from the heart.

A variety of items made by Sue Soetenga are on display, including ribbon roses, Battenberg lace, woven German stars, crewel ornaments, quilts, and bead sculpture. A series of hand painted porcelain by the late El Lois Nelson, Mrs. Soetenga’s mother, will be shown. “These pieces are truly fine art,” Mrs. Soetenga noted. “Mother’s work is known world wide and was published in art periodicals.” Mrs. Soetenga over several years found interesting collections in Franklin County. She felt a display at one point in time could educate and inspire festival attendees. She hopes to motivate people to “give it a try,” to appreciate the work involved, and to rethink the beauty of the simple material available to our ancestors and to us today

Letter to the Editor

I am disappointed in myself fairly often. I worked with Ray Loyd Johnson, Richard Mercer, my own dad (born 1912) and no one ever told me about a Billiard Hall. So I am reading the land title to the city lot directly across the street from our Fire Station Museum. The effort arose because of some Thruston research. I found that Edward W Thruston and his wife, Polly B. Thruston had sold land to J.L. Rutherford in 1897. Edward W. is the son of our famous Henry Clay Thruston. Well, the land has nothing to do with the Thruston House or farm but it instead is a deed of city lots 5 and 6 in Block 7 “on which the Billiard Hall is situated.”

WHAT? Wonders never cease As we learn more about the history of our town - A Billiard Hall. My research had only reported the Gist and later little Brothers Groceries on the site, where the Banks Heritage Square Parking Area and Fountain is now located. The deed is dated March 13, 1897, and is recorded in Vol. K, page 249, of Deed Records of Franklin County.

We knew about the opera house where Edwards Store is located and a movie theatre for silent movies about where the Optic office is. BUT a Billiard Hall? For the most part, the walking tour history of Mt. Vernon is still good history. It isn’t wrong; it could just have more data! Buy a copy for Christmas (over 200 pages with an index of 1.000 names). Call Historical Association headquarters to take advantage of the Christmas special for members - $10 for paperbacks and $20 for hard covers. 

Geocaching:  What It Is and How It Started

Many of you readers own a Global Positioning Satellite receiver – or GPS unit – and know how it works. Your GPS receiver locates several of the earth’s orbiting satellites and uses the information they transmit to display your own location. You might not know that this device has also enabled interested persons to take part in a high-tech global game of hide-and-seek called “geocaching.”

An article published recently in Southern Living noted: “At the web site www.geocaching.com, enter a country, state, or zip code to open long lists of waterproof caches [containers with surprises inside them] posted by participants called ‘geocachers.’ Some 300,000 hiding places exist worldwide, with more added every day. . . . Latitude and longitude coordinates measuring north from the equator and west from the Greenwich meridian identify each within a few feet, and occasionally riddle-like clues spice up the challenge.” This web site, operated by a company named Groundspeak, is the definitive geocaching site, giving you locations of caches and, too, the rules and etiquette of the game (for instance, you are supposed to carry items to replace those that you take from geocache containers). Caches are rated from 1 for easiest to 5 for most difficult.

Roberta Furger, writing for Parade Magazine, tells about the first geocaching experience of one of the founders of the web site, Jeremy Irish: He had searched miserably and thirstily to the end of long, hot mountain trail, when he found the cache, a container with a juice drink, a disposable camera, and a log book inside. He wrote, “At the trail’s end, I felt like one of the explorers I’d read about as a kid.” Others apparently feel the same. Geocachers that have found our Better than Botox cache have sent e-mail messages – some have geocacher nicknames such as Buffalo Scout and Sportracker, indicating their self-identification as high-tech versions of characters like Kit Carson and Jim Bridger.

Others who have found Better than Botox call themselves by fanciful names such as Birdbrain, Sparkle, BigMacs, RedTX, Muggles, and Nasdaq. Some have participated in challenges like the Texas County Challenge, in which a geocacher known as Enduroking found a cache in every county in Texas.

Some state and national parks, as well as private resorts throughout the country, now feature programs and activities in geocaching, teaching whole families how to use a compass and a GPS unit, while giving them exercise and fun. With a simple Internet search for “geocaching groups,” you can even find regional associations like the Maryland Geocaching Society, which has volunteer staff regularly hiding and registering new caches.

NOTE TO LOCAL MEMBERS OF THE FRANKLIN COUNTY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION:  VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR THE FCHA GEOCACHE 

B. F. Hicks would like to talk to anyone interested in maintaining the geocache at Dupree Park, to check it at least monthly, and to replace the Better Than Botox cups as they are found and taken. He also would like to see a steward maintain a new geocache hidden in the West End Preserve. If someone were willing to do so, then we could register the new geocache at the web site mentioned in the article, www.geocaching.com. Or, if you have another idea for a geocache and would be willing to serve as its steward, please call B. F. at his office at 903-537-2264 or send him an e-mail message at bfhicks@mt-vernon.com.

We also need a volunteer to go out to Dupree Part and check the status of our 24 bluebird boxes. They should be cleaned out before next spring and some repairs made. Can we have a volunteer? As to either geocache stewardship or bluebird-box maintenance, just check in with B. F. Hicks and let us know that you can do this.

- B. F. Hicks, for the FCHA Board of Directors 

Memoirs of a Civil War Veteran

The material is from an original message to B. F. from: Bettye Delaney, sent: Monday, March 17, 2003. She was sending information and original source material on one of her relatives, a Civil War veteran, John L. Parchman.

Here is her original message, followed by an excerpt from Mr. Parchman's memoirs:

Dear B.F.,

The original pages of the CSA information written by John L. Parchman are difficult to read but I did the best I could. I left the spelling and punctuation as written by John Lloyd. I had to do some Civil War research just to figure out what he was writing and see-if he had written it with correct dates and places. The best I can figure out he had it very close to history. That is amazing considering close to 50 years had gone by. I may have some of the information somewhere. Now, do not shake your head at me, but I believe one of the Generals he mentioned either was elected as governor of Texas or just ran for governor. It has been over a year since I looked at the information. I tried to find something about Captain John Guines being shot for desertion but could not find anything. There is a copy of the the original document at the Mt. Vernon Library In a family file behind the counter. I put a copy in the Parchman file at the genealogy office. I do not believe I have added my typed copy.

I have sent some information to Joe Scott about his family before the Civil War. I went to Madison Parish, La. In the fall and took pictures of the Tom Scott home that they did not know existed. The house was built before the Civil War but that information was not known when it was put on the National Register In 1982. Union Parish is located near Vicksburg and it Is where the Battle of Milligan's Bend took place. A lot of Civil War History there. The Scott's escaped to Texas during the Civil War. There is a book called "Brokenburn" about the families from Madison Parish that went to Texas to live during the war. Most of them lived around Tyler. Joe's family lived about 4 miles east of Winnsboro. The Scott's went back to Madison Parish after the war to find their plantation in ruin. They tried to work it without luck and sold it in about 1875 and moved back to Texas. I sent my sister, Billie, the book "Broken burn" for her birthday and I do not know if she has finished it or not. I am sure Joe Scott or my sister Billie will gladly share a report on the book with you. I believe Joe ordered the book thru the library system after I told him about it. Joe has a good accounting of his family during the Civil War. His grandfather's brother Charley was in the CSA and was killed. That is also in the book. Maybe you could talk Joe into speaking to a class. Please do not tell him I volunteered him. Ha!

Good Luck and let me know if I can be of more help.

Sincerely, Bettye

CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES OF JOHN L. PARCHMAN

John Lloyd Parchman was the son of Emmaline Steadham and Wiley Jackson Parchman. He was the father of Joseph M. Parchman, owner of the Parchman Dry Goods Store in Mt. Vernon, Texas. The building is now owned by the Franklin County Genealogical Society. Before his death in 1905, John Lloyd wrote (on" Parchman Bros. Dry Goods" letterhead paper) his memories of his military service. The following has been typed as it appeared to have been written by John L. Parchman.

John Loyd Parchman was born Harrison Co, .January 30th 1844. Moved with his parents to Titus Co. in the year of 1859. Enlisted in the Confederate Army March 1862. Taken up The Line of March in April 1862. Went to Houston Tex. Stayed in camps 3 months Joined the 11th Texas Infantry Commanded by V.M. Roberts, then came to Tyler, Tex. Reorganized for 3 years or during the war and from Tyler Tex. we went to Little Rock, Ark. There we joined the Third Brigade, commanded by Haris Randel, and this Brigade joined J.G. Walker's Division-Major General J.G. Walker. All of my war service was in the TransMississippi Department. Had several hard fought battles Pleasant Hill and Mansfield Tex. April 8&9, 1864 Jenkins' Ferry, Ark. April 30 1864. We marched from Ozark Ark. to Alexandria, La. Had some fighting over on the Mississippi River. Marched back to Pine Bluff, Ark. and then to Arkansas Post. Had some fighting and we were whipped. Lost the fort and from there we went back to Pine Bluff Ark. Went into Winter Quarters for three months. And from there we went to Monroe, La. and then we went up the Mississippi River. Had a fight with some negroes posted up on a Large Mound; took all of them prisoners. Came back to Monroe, and then we were ordered over on the Mississippi River. Had a hard fight in Milligan's Bend on Mississippi River and drove them clear into the river and captured a lot of prisoners. Marched back to Monroe, took a steamboat down the Washata River, went down the Washita as far as the town of Harrisonburg and then we were met by yankey forces and drove back to Monroe and from Monroe we went across the country by land to Alexandria and from there we went up the Tennessee River some 40 miles by Steamboats. Landed and had another fight - drove the yankeys back on the Mississippi and from there we went back to Alexandria on Red River and from there we went down Red River to the Mississippi. Had several little skirmishes and we fell back to Alexandria. Stayed in winter quarters, after that the Battle of Mansfield & Pleasant Hill, La., was fought 8 & 9 of April 1864. Whipped the yanks and took 1200 or 1500 Prisoners, and on the 30th 1864, fought the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry, Ark From Jenkins Ferry on Little River, Ark., we marched back to Camden, Ark. Stayed in camps two or three months. A great many of our men died from exposure. General Homer commanded the Trans-Mississippi Department. Had several of our men shot for deserting and among the number was one Capt John Guinn of Hanes Brigade. From Camden, Ark., we marched to Mt. Lebbinon, La. and from there we went to Hempstead, Tex. and at Hempsstead Tex. we surrendered on the 1st day of June, 1865.

I arrived at home my father's home in Titus Co, near Mt. Vernon, now Franklin County, on the 8th day of June, 1865. Married to Miss Nannie Justice on 17th of Nov. 1865, in Titus County.

Information provided by Bettye L. Burns

Historic Photos
lf you haven't visited our website lately, Please go to the tab at the bottom of the page list on the left: Historic Photos.  Some of the photos include various Mt. Vernon school classes, football teams, construction sites, an amazing photo of a baptism at the Brooks Pool (the E. Brooks Estate, circa 1900), and many others. Our webmaster John Hicks would appreciate more information on any of the photos, as he appreciates updates of information and corrections of items on the website. 

Memorials and Honors for September & October

In Memory of:
Billy Harper, by The Pamplin Family
Ada Mowry, by The Pamplin Family
Mozelle Ramsay, by The Pamplin Family

Honoring:
Connie McGill (Happy Birthday), by B. F. Hicks
Doris Meek (Happy Birthday), by B. F. Hicks
Billy Loftis (Happy Birthday), by B. F. Hicks
B. F. Hicks, by Amy McGrady
B. F. Hicks, by Dalmara Bayne (Native Prairies Association of Texas)

Musings, by B. F. Hicks

If you haven’t picked up some of our brochures lately, stop by the museum or e-mail our webmaster and we’ll mail you some brochures. The maps brochure we published is given out to school groups as an educational tool on a regular basis.

A recent article regarding the El Camino Real was really telling: The article pointed out that in 1991 the State had tried to determine the route for the King’s Highway from San Antonio to Nacogdoches. That there were five main routes: all used at various times for various purposes. The travel variables of the day included the flow level of a particular river on a particular day and what Indians were in what area at a certain time and what kind of mood they were in on that day. Clay Coppedge says that “Tracing the exact route of Texas’ first road is daunting because, even in its heyday, much of the trail was more of a suggestion of a road than an actual road; and it was more than one road.”

For us: The Cherokee Trace through Franklin County is well documented; deeds recorded in Franklin County as late as 1936 reference land titles measured back from the east and west sides of the Cherokee Trace and there is not much doubt that the main route lies clearly back into Franklin County. However, the early route for the road also probably meandered up along a high water crossing during wet seasons a half mile to the east; and the pioneers buried their dead at the Tranquil Cemetery where the Protestant Methodists were worshipping in February 1841 before the April 1841 massacre of the Ripley family.

Our “Maps and Trails” brochure gives an introduction to the early settlement patterns for this region. We exist because we are on the trail leading into Texas; the “gateway” into Texas for the colonists. In fact, not too long after the American Revolution, Thomas Jefferson was already sending scouts to check out this very area which is now Franklin County (1806).

Contrary to the sign at the City Cemetery, no one was buried in Mt. Vernon in 1800, several generations of pioneers were already buried in this county before the cemetery was established but we’re proud of it. (Note that we see a very different City Cemetery today since the wrought iron Victorian fencing was removed during the scrap-metal drives of World War II.)

Request for Information on Civil War Veterans

If you can share information about ancestors who fought in the Civil War, contact Ms. Carolyn Ericson Her contact information is as follows:
1614 Redbud St.
Nacogdoches, TX 75965-2936
kissinkuzzins@suddenlink.net

Those of you that want to read more about the local Civil War involvement should note that The Franklin County Genealogical
Society has the following:

Civil War Veterans Of Titus And Franklin Counties, by Traylor Russell, has been reprinted by and is available from the
society. This book actually consists of two volumes reproduced by local genealogy society with permission of the Russell
family and bound together in one volume. It is a treasure trove of information. Reading this book is an extensive study and
an adventure with the late Mt. Pleasant attorney and story-teller. It is available for $40 at their office, or for $43
including shipping.

The society has another book by an author whose last name is Jurney; the title is History of Titus County 1846-1960. The
cost is only $20 at the society’s office; or add $3 for shipping, for a total of $23, to have it mailed.

Contact information is as follows:
P O Box 1563
Mt. Vernon, TX 75457
903-537-3931
www.mt-vernon.com/~skelly
fcgensoc@mt-vernon.com

Request for World War II Scrapbooks & Information 

If you have scrapbooks that could be copied to send in with any other information on your experiences of World War II, note the place for contact:
Lara Newcomer, Historian
Ecological Communications Corporation
4009 Banister Lane #300
Austin, TX 78704
(512) 329-0031
(512) 329-0012 fax
lnewcomer@ecommcorporation.com