Cemetery Reclamationl

"Lone Star Historian" is a blog about the travels and activities of the State Historian of Texas. Bill O'Neal was appointed to a two-year term by Gov. Rick Perry on August 22, 2012, at an impressive ceremony in the State Capitol. Bill is headquartered at Panola College (www.panola.edu) in Carthage, where he has taught since 1970. For more than 20 years Bill conducted the state's first Traveling Texas History class, a three-hour credit course which featured a 2,100-mile itinerary. In 2000 he was awarded a Piper Professorship, and in 2012 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wild West Historical Association. Bill has published almost 40 books, half about Texas history subjects, and in 2007 he was named Best Living Non-Fiction Writer by True West Magazine.

Two days after Christmas, on Thursday morning, December 27, I spoke at the dedication ceremony of the Mount Pleasant Cemetery Reclamation. The reclamation of the pioneer cemetery in rural Panola County is the tenth such project completed by Elvy J. Adams. Since his retirement as a minister in 2005, Adams has dedicated himself to reclaiming forgotten, overgrown cemeteries. Nine of the cemeteries have been in Panola County, the other in Shelby County.

Elvy J. Adams is a native of Panola County. Born and raised on a farm near Beckville, when he was 16 his mother permitted him to join the United States Air Force. Although he was underage, there was no birth certificate, and in 1948 the teenager launched a 22-year career in the USAF. Following combat in Korea, he began to drink heavily. But his life changed in 1953.

While at home on leave Adams met a pretty young woman in Carthage. Elvy and Erma Fae Adams will soon celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. They are the parents of five daughters, and they have 14 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. And early in their marriage, Erma led her husband to religion.

While stationed at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines, Sergeant Adams was the NCO supervisor of 750 civilian guards. In 1954 he built a church for Filipinos a short distance outside the base. Although uncredentialed as a minister, he continued to build churches in the area. While in the Air Force he completed a high school diploma and pursued a college degree. Adams was credentialed by the Assemblies of God and continued to found and erect churches.

After retiring as a master sergeant in 1970, Adams entered fulltime pastoral work. He organized one congregation after another, and supervised the construction of numerous churches. After retiring from pastoral work in 2005, he found another challenge in reclaiming cemeteries. His first project was at Sugar Hill, north of Beckville, where his great-grandfather (a descendant of President John Adams), grandparents, and other relatives are buried.

After a cemetery is recommended to him, Adams approaches the county commissioner in whose precinct the old graveyard is located, and obtains the use of needed equipment. The county probation office provides workers who owe community service hours. The county surveyor and an archaeology professor from Stephen F.  Austin State University develop information about each cemetery. Landowners grant various permissions to Adams with a handshake, and other citizens readily cooperate with the affable and persuasive former pastor.

Brother Adams asked me to speak at the dedication of his ninth project, the long-neglected cemetery at Grand Bluff, an early-day ferry crossing on the Sabine River in northern Panola County. A few years earlier I had visited the overgrown graveyard while preparing Carthage, an Arcadia book. In November 2012 I returned to the cemetery in preparation for the dedication, and I was astounded at the transformation. The property was cleared, fencing was repaired, broken tombstones were again intact, and well over 100 small crosses marked rows of graves that had been rediscovered. 

On the morning of November 13 a large crowd assembled at Grand Bluff Cemetery. Brother Adams presided, introducing various individuals who had lent assistance, and briefly recounting the course of his most recent project. There was a prayer of sanctification, and I offered historical perspectives. That evening Brother Adams called me, and I told him how impressed I was with his work and that it was a privilege to participate. His enthusiasm is infectious, and he informed me that the State Historian now was a member of his team! 

E.J. Adams (second from left in white hat)
addresses the crowd at Mount
Pleasant Cemetery.

A month later he contacted me to let me know that the State Historian was needed at the dedication of Mount Pleasant Cemetery, between Deadwood and Galloway in eastern Panola County. Although the Mount Pleasant Cemetery was a small family graveyard, a substantial crowd - almost all of whom were descendants of those lying at rest - gathered on December 27. Brother Adams presided, and he asked Sheriff-elect Ron Clinton to introduce me. I was privileged to be introduced by Ron, who is a former student of mine and who has forged an impressive career in law enforcement. 

Descendants of James A. Baker, who died at 38
in 1883, stand behind his tombstone. Destiny
Ortigo stands at left with her trumpet.

Following my remarks I announced to the audience that the Mount Pleasant Cemetery was E.J. Adams's tenth reclamation project, and I commemorated his efforts by presenting him with a Certificate of Appreciation from the State Historian of Texas. Rev. Mervin Scott, pastor of the nearby Deadwood United Methodist Church, consecrated the cemetery, and Destiny Ortigo - a teenaged descendant of the cemetery's families - concluded the event by playing "Taps" on her trumpet. As we departed the cemetery, Brother Adams mentioned to me that two more reclamation projects would be ready for dedication early in 2013. 

Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association

"Lone Star Historian" is a blog about the travels and activities of the State Historian of Texas. Bill O'Neal was appointed to a two-year term by Gov. Rick Perry on August 22, 2012, at an impressive ceremony in the State Capitol. Bill is headquartered at Panola College (www.panola.edu) in Carthage, where he has taught since 1970. For more than 20 years Bill conducted the state's first Traveling Texas History class, a three-hour credit course which featured a 2,100-mile itinerary. In 2000 he was awarded a Piper Professorship, and in 2012 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wild West Historical Association. Bill has published almost 40 books, half about Texas history subjects, and in 2007 he was named Best Living Non-Fiction Writer by True West Magazine.

During the years following the Civil War, the beneficial possibilities of collective action were sought by groups such as industrial workers, through labor unions, and farmers, through the Grange and the Farmers Alliance of the South. Stockmen quickly recognized the need to organize themselves against cattle thieves and to coordinate roundups and other ranching practices.

The Cattle Theft Association, founded in 1865, was the first of several New Mexico associations formed to battle rustlers. The Colorado Cattle Growers Association was organized in 1884 and counted among its members a young rancher from New York named Theodore Roosevelt. The Wyoming Stock Growers Association exercised enormous political power, and when the Wyoming Territorial Capitol opened in 1888, there was an office suite for the WSGA.

The Old Post Office Museum, with cowboy
statuary in the right corner

There were more ranches on the vast ranges of Texas than in any state or territory, and livestock theft was rampant. On February 15, 1877, 40 ranchers met in Graham, seat of Young County. Legend suggests that the meeting was held beneath a large oak tree, but it is more likely that the ranchers gathered inside the year-old courthouse on a chill February Thursday. C.C. Slaughter had helped to organize the meeting, and Burk Burnett was among the prominent ranchers who attended. The ranchers formed the Stock-Raisers' Association of Northwest Texas, intending to counter rustlers with field inspectors and to organize roundup districts for spring work. Scornful of the relatively mild term "rustlers," association members preferred "damn cattle thieves." As the organization grew in effectiveness and membership, the name was changed to the Cattle Raisers Association of Texas, then to the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. Today the SWCRA, with 15,000 members, is the world's largest organization of its kind.

On a recent visit to Graham I took another look at the mural and the site of the oak tree, and I toured the Old Post Office Museum on the large town square. In Fort Worth the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Foundation maintains its headquarters at 1301 West 7th Street. Outside stands a superb statuary of cowboy and cattle, and inside is the Waggoner Library, an excellent research facility. The headquarters building long featured the Cattle Raisers Museum, but it has been upgraded, modernized, and moved to the city's museum district, just opposite the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame.

A visit to Fort Worth and/or to Graham will produce an historical connection to this significant organization which represents an iconic Texas enterprise. And if you can't make it to Fort Worth or Graham, just look for signs on the fences of thousands of ranches in Texas and surrounding states:
                                                             MEMBER                             
                                             TEXAS & SOUTHWESTERN
                                                      CATTLE RAISERS
                                                            ASS'N, INC.

This old brand book is among
many treasures at the
Cattle Raisers Museum.

                                                               POSTED

The Association began
publishing The Cattleman
in 1914. I was privileged
to contribute an article
on the historic LS Ranch
in this issue (Oct. 1987).

 This superb statuary stands in front of  the
Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Foundation
headquarters in Fort Worth.

Big Claus

"Lone Star Historian" is a blog about the travels and activities of the State Historian of Texas. Bill O'Neal was appointed to a two-year term by Gov. Rick Perry on August 22, 2012, at an impressive ceremony in the State Capitol. Bill is headquartered at Panola College (www.panola.edu) in Carthage, where he has taught since 1970. For more than 20 years Bill conducted the state's first Traveling Texas History class, a three-hour credit course which featured a 2,100-mile itinerary. In 2000 he was awarded a Piper Professorship, and in 2012 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wild West Historical Association. Bill has published almost 40 books, half about Texas history subjects, and in 2007 he was named Best Living Non-Fiction Writer by True West Magazine.

On an evening in December 1949 we piled into the family car at 1717 Woodlawn in Corsicana. My dad was behind the wheel and Mother sat beside him. My sister and I were in the back. I was seven going on eight, and Judy was two years younger. We were excited, because we were driving to Kerens to see the "World's Largest Santa Claus."

Kerens is located 15 miles east of Corsicana. The town was founded in 1881 when the St. Louis Southwestern Railway built east to west through Navarro County. By the 1940s the population exceeded 1,500 and the commercial district stretched for two and a half blocks south of the railroad tracks along Colbert Avenue. The business buildings were brick, and a block to the east was an impressive brick cotton gin. But by 1949 business was falling off, as shoppers drove to Corsicana, or, sometimes, to Dallas.

Santa looked north toward
the business district. At the
south end of the street the
old Kerens school may
be seen between Santa's
legs. Cars made a slow
U-turn behind Santa and
drove back toward the
business district.

Howell Brister, president of the Kerens Chamber of Commerce, devised a plan to stimulate local shopping during the all-important Christmas season. He proposed that the community build and display the "World's Largest Santa Claus." Local welders and the high school ag students fashioned a frame out of $68 worth of iron drill casing. Huge boots were formed by a concrete worker. Women employed at a Kerens garment factory stitched 168 yards of red oil cloth. The dimensions of two heavyset men, Ottis Spurlock and Hardy Mayo, were multiplied by seven to design a pattern. Art students from Baylor University put together a papier-mâché  head, while seven-foot lengths of rope were unraveled to make Santa's beard. When assembled, he stood 49 feet tall. 

After arriving in Kerens, we turned right on Colbert Avenue, crossed over the railroad tracks, and fell in behind a long line of cars. We drove slowly past the business district, which was gaily decorated for Christmas shoppers. At the south end of the street stood a massive Santa Claus! For a seven-year-old it was an unforgettable site, one that remains vivid more tan six decades later.

Unfortunately, the novelty soon wore off of Super Santa. After two years in Kerens, the giant figure was sold to R.L. Thornton of Dallas. Santa was converted into a cowboy, and made his debut as "Big Tex" in 1952 at the State Fair of Texas. But every October when I visited the State Fair, I saw Big Tex and thought of the "World's Largest Santa Claus."

Note the lady standing on
the chimney top.

Merry Christmas, Texas! 

Lampasas

"Lone Star Historian" is a blog about the travels and activities of the State Historian of Texas. Bill O'Neal was appointed to a two-year term by Gov. Rick Perry on August 22, 2012, at an impressive ceremony in the State Capitol. Bill is headquartered at Panola College (www.panola.edu) in Carthage, where he has taught since 1970. For more than 20 years Bill conducted the state's first Traveling Texas History class, a three-hour credit course which featured a 2,100-mile itinerary. In 2000 he was awarded a Piper Professorship, and in 2012 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wild West Historical Association. Bill has published almost 40 books, half about Texas history subjects, and in 2007 he was named Best Living Non-Fiction Writer by True West Magazine.

On Tuesday, December 11, my most recent book was released. Lampasas, 1855-1895: Biography of a Frontier Texas Town is the third in a series of studies of the urban frontier. I've long been drawn to the subject of the urban frontier, to the activities of urban pioneers, and in 1995 I enjoyed writing a coffee table book on Western ghost towns for Publications International of Chicago. After reading the brilliant study by Dr. Donald L. Miller, City of the Century, The Epic of Chicago and the making of America, I determined to apply his approach to the formative period of a frontier community. 

In 2006 Eakin Press published Cheyenne, 1867-1903: A Biography of the "Magic City" of the Plains, a study of the formative period of this important Western town. Almost immediately I had the opportunity to explore the formative years of Caldwell, Kansas, the last railhead of the Chisholm Trail. Border Queen Caldwell: Toughest Town on the Chisholm Trail was published in 2008. Eakin Press urged me to write a third book on a frontier town, to complete a trilogy. I knew that for a third book I wanted to examine the frontier past of a Texas town, and soon I realized that the subject should be Lampasas.

Lampasas is my mother's home town, and I have three generations of family roots there. My first three years as a teacher were spent in Lampasas, as an 8th-grade Language Arts  instructor and athletics coach. I've been in and out of Lampasas all of my life, visiting relatives and friends. I've written about Lampasas in other books, including a biography of rancher-gunfighter-trail driver Pink Higgins titled The Bloody Legacy of Pink Higgins: A Half Century of Violence in Texas.

The 19th century experience of Lampasas was rich and colorful. For nearly three decades, the settlers of Lampasas were challenged by frontier hardships and dangers. The isolated Hill Country community was founded in the 1850s amid bubbling mineral springs. During the summer “watering seasons,” hundreds of Texans made their way through the wilderness to “take the waters” at Lampasas Springs. Most of these summer visitors camped for weeks in shady groves beside the springs - enjoying such simple recreations as visiting, singing, communal meals, and preaching services - while children swam and played in large gangs. Lampasas merchants learned to rely upon an annual upsurge in business, as the population doubled and sometimes tripled each summer.

During the town’s formative decades, Lampasans endured Comanche raids, murderous saloon shootouts, a vicious blood feud, stock theft, lynchings, stagecoach robberies, and conflict between cattlemen and sheepherders. Trail drives paused at Lampasas Springs, and area drovers herded cattle up the famous trails as the cowboy culture permeated Lampasas. Trail boss Pink Higgins became a gunfighter of the front rank, the Horrell brothers were notorious cattle rustlers, and the Horrells triggered a saloon fight unique in the annals of frontier violence.

Crowd gathers at the historic
Hostess House.

The long frontier era ended when railroad tracks reached Lampasas in 1882. The magnificent Park Hotel was built as the centerpiece of a 200-acre park, which for a few years became the leading resort of Texas. Statewide political and denominational conventions were held at the “Saratoga of the South.” The Texas Bankers Association organized at the Park Hotel, and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas adopted their name during a Lampasas meeting. The Texas State Guard, forerunner of the National Guard, held its first two statewide encampments on the spacious grounds of the Park Hotel. The urban pioneers of frontier Lampasas enjoyed a Victorian heyday through the glamour of the Saratoga of the South. 

Mayor Grayson presents certificate
and key to the city to Bill.

The Lampasas chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (the DRT adopted its name during an 1891 organizational meeting in Lampasas) arranged and advertised the introductory event for the new book.  A Tuesday evening meeting was held in the Hostess House, an historic building owned and maintained by the DRT at Hancock Springs, the largest of the seven Lampasas mineral springs. A large crowd gathered, but before I was introduced to deliver my program, DRT chapter president Carol Northington Wright summoned Mayor Jerry Grayson to the speaker's stand. Mayor Grayson presented me with a certificate of appreciation - and a key to the city of Lampasas. Then County Judge Wayne Boultinghouse, on behalf of the Commissioners' Court, read a proclamation declaring December 11 Bill O'Neal Day in Lampasas. These honors filled me with heartfelt gratitude, and I wished that my late mother, Jessie Standard O'Neal, could have witnessed the awards. 

Judge Boultinghouse proclaims
"Bill O'Neal Day"

Following my program about frontier Lampasas, everyone was invited to share refreshments, visit, and purchase copies of the new book. I announced that for each copy sold, I would donate $5 to the DRT chapter.As the line formed, two DRT ladies, Diane Davis and my sister, Judy O'Neal Smith, arranged themselves to help with sales. With their efficient assistance, I signed books non-stop for nearly two hours. Many people bought multiple copies as Christmas gifts, and I had a delightful time renewing old acquaintances.  

Carol N. Wright and Bill at the
Keystone Square Museum

                                                                                                                                    

At the signing table Bill
was assisted by Diane
Davis and Judy Smith

To accommodate those who could not come on Tuesday night, the Keystone Square Museum was opened for another signing the next morning, from nine until noon. After the enthusiastic turnout of Tuesday evening, we thought that Wednesday morning would be slow. But again we were visited by a large crowd.  The response to the new book was most gratifying, and I'm still glowing because of the warm and hospitable reception of the State Historian. 

Local Duties

"Lone Star Historian" is a blog about the travels and activities of the State Historian of Texas. Bill O'Neal was appointed to a two-year term by Gov. Rick Perry on August 22, 2012, at an impressive ceremony in the State Capitol. Bill is headquartered at Panola College (www.panola.edu) in Carthage, where he has taught since 1970. For more than 20 years Bill conducted the state's first Traveling Texas History class, a three-hour credit course which featured a 2,100-mile itinerary. In 2000 he was awarded a Piper Professorship, and in 2012 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wild West Historical Association. Bill has published almost 40 books, half about Texas history subjects, and in 2007 he was named Best Living Non-Fiction Writer by True West Magazine.

On Thursday, December 6, I presented a program on Pearl Harbor over KGAS Radio Station in Carthage. The half-hour program, Panola Pride, airs five days a week. Jerry Hanszen, owner-manager of KGAS, maintains a keen interest in local, Texas, and U.S. history, and he has kindly invited me to present programs on numerous occasions in the past. For the Pearl Harbor program, I was hosted by Judy McNatt, a longtime KGAS employee. 

While relating the events of Pearl Harbor, I included the exploits of such Texans as Dorie Miller of Waco. A mess attendant aboard the battleship West Virginia, Miller's heroism aboard the sinking vessel rendered him the first African-American sailor to earn the Navy Cross. The Navy's highest award for valor was presented to him by another Texan, Admiral Chester Nimitz of Fredericksburg. Chuck Otterman, whose daughters were enrolled in my history classes in past years, was a young gunner's mate aboard U.S.S. Arizona on December 7, 1941. When the battleship was blown apart by an explosion, Otterman and a shipmate swam to nearby Ford Island, where they later obtained a motor launch and returned to pick up survivors. 

Following the broadcast, I happily recorded a newscast about my recent trip to Texarkana and subsequent awards. This news story also was placed on the KGAS website. Shortly afterward I was interviewed by the Panola Watchman about this same story, and the newspaper account and a photo were placed on the front page. The local media are helping to spread the word about the State Historian of Texas. 

Late on Thursday afternoon, December 6, I was visited at my home office by Brooke Hanszen Paddie and her two sons, Topher and Noah. Brooke is the daughter of Jerry and Wanda Hanszen and the wife of Chris Paddie, former mayor of Marshall and the recent winner of election to the Texas House of Representatives. The oldest son of Brooke and Chris, eleven-year-old Topher is a middle school student in Marshall, and he has been assigned to prepare a project for an upcoming History Fair. Topher is working on a project about the Texas Governor's Mansion, and his mother scheduled an interview with me as State Historian. Our interview lasted nearly an hour, and we posed together for photos. Topher is a highly intelligent young man, and I'm pleased that the State Historian was able to assist him with his history project. 

Texarkana at 139

"Lone Star Historian" is a blog about the travels and activities of the State Historian of Texas. Bill O'Neal was appointed to a two-year term by Gov. Rick Perry on August 22, 2012, at an impressive ceremony in the State Capitol. Bill is headquartered at Panola College (www.panola.edu) in Carthage, where he has taught since 1970. For more than 20 years Bill conducted the state's first Traveling Texas History class, a three-hour credit course which featured a 2,100-mile itinerary. In 2000 he was awarded a Piper Professorship, and in 2012 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wild West Historical Association. Bill has published almost 40 books, half about Texas history subjects, and in 2007 he was named Best Living Non-Fiction Writer by True West Magazine.

On Monday, December 3, Texarkana celebrated the 139th anniversary of its founding. The principal event was held at Texarkana College. Dr. Beverly Rowe, a member of the history faculty and the author of three books about Texarkana's past, spearheaded arrangements for the community event.  At ten o'clock a large crowd of students and citizens gathered in the assembly hall of the Truman Arnold Student Center. Dr. Vernon Wilder, Chief Instructional Officer and Professor of History and Government, provided the welcome and introductions. Featured on the program were Bob Bruggeman and Wayne Smith, the mayors of respectively, Texarkana, Texas, and Texarkana, Arkansas. 



Mayors Bob Bruggeman (left) and Wayne Smith

I assumed that mayors Bruggeman and Smith would make remarks about the background of Texarkana. Instead, they took the podium together and read a joint proclamation describing the State Historian of Texas. The Office of State Historian was mentioned nine times in the joint proclamation, in conjunction with my program commemorating the anniversary of Texarkana's founding. Mayors Bruggeman and Smith finally announced that "we welcome Bill O'Neal, Texas's State Historian, to Texarkana and confer upon him honorary citizenship in Texarkana, U.S.A., and herby proclaim December 3, 2012, as BILL O'NEAL DAY." I was called to the speaker's stand and presented the proclamation. Then each mayor affixed the pin of his city upon my lapel.


Dr. Vernon Wilder

I was astounded and proud and deeply grateful. When Dr. Wilder introduced me as speaker a few moments later, he mentioned that he had been unaware that there was such a position as State Historian of Texas. That is a common impression - one that I am trying to change. The office of State Historian of Texas was created just seven years ago, and I am only the third historian to hold the title. I was informed from the beginning that a major goal of mine should be to make the Texas public aware that there is a State Historian.

And so I speak wherever I am invited. I travel to museums and to other historical sites across Texas. I hand out State Historian business cards to everyone within reach. I appear as State Historian at schools from elementary to university campuses. I post my historical travels and adventures on this blog. Since my appointment I've given newspaper interviews, from the New York Times to the Panola Watchman. I was in radio, primarily as a sportscaster, for 36 years, and I readily participate in radio interviews as State Historian, includng last Monday in Texarkana. Indeed, the Texarkana College marquee announced to all passersby that the "Texas State Historian" would speak on campus at Texarkana's 139th birthday. My thanks to Texarkana for their most gracious hospitality - and for helping me spread the word about my position as ambassador for the incredibly rich history of Texas.

During the Christmas season of 1897, eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon famously expressed concern about the existence of Santa Claus. Francis P. Church of the New York Sun, as part of his classic reply, reassured the little girl: "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus." With that settled, please allow me to add: "Yes, Texas, there is a State Historian."

Texas Country Music Hall of Fame

"Lone Star Historian" is a blog about the travels and activities of the State Historian of Texas. Bill O'Neal was appointed to a two-year term by Gov. Rick Perry on August 22, 2012, at an impressive ceremony in the State Capitol. Bill is headquartered at Panola College (www.panola.edu) in Carthage, where he has taught since 1970. For more than 20 years Bill conducted the state's first Traveling Texas History class, a three-hour credit course which featured a 2,100-mile itinerary. In 2000 he was awarded a Piper Professorship, and in 2012 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wild West Historical Association. Bill has published almost 40 books, half about Texas history subjects, and in 2007 he was named Best Living Non-Fiction Writer by True West Magazine. 

The Texas Country Music Hall of Fame is a temple of cultural history, celebrating the preeminence of Texan artists in a hugely popular musical genre. The TCMHOF is located in Carthage, the seat of Panola County, which is an especially fitting site. Both Tex Ritter and Jim Reeves are natives of Panola County, which is the only county in the United States to claim two members of Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame.



The Panola County Chamber of Commerce is housed in a
grand old home, and the Tex Ritter Museum was established
on the second floor

Tex Ritter was the fifth inductee of the Country Music Hall of Fame, as well as the second president of the Country Music Association (the first CMA president was another Texan, Gene Autry). Although Tex was a teenager when his immediate family moved to the Beaumont area, he returned to Panola County to visit relatives until his death in 1974. As director of the Panola County Chamber of Commerce, Tommie Ritter Smith dreamed of establishing a Tex Ritter Museum. Tommie obtained a major donation of memorabilia from Dorothy Fay Ritter and her sons, Tom and John. Their only stipulation was that any student or student group should be granted free admission to the museum. The Tex Ritter Museum was opened on the second floor of the grand old house where the Chamber of Commerce is headquartered.


The new TCMHOF building opened in 2002.

With Tommie Ritter Smith outside the
Chamber of Commerce building.

Tommie Ritter Smith soon conceived of a significant expansion, from the Tex Ritter Museum to the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame. She obtained a charter from the state, while local support was lined up and a board was organized. Tommie asked me to write a biography of Tex Ritter, offering a wealth of archival materials, including hundreds of glossy photos covering his entire career. I was permitted to keep all of the materials in my home office for nearly a year. When published in 1998 the book featured 200 photos.

The book was completed in time for the 1998 opening of the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame. A large crowd from Nashville came to Carthage for the August ceremonies, and the annual induction of the TCMHOF continues to be an important event in the C&W industry. The charter inductees in 1998 included Tex Ritter, Jim Reeves, Gene Autry, and Willie Nelson, who arrived in his bus shortly before the performance following appearances in Colorado. Tom and John Ritter - by now a major TV star - were present to represent their father. A capacity crowd of 1,100 enjoyed spectacular performances, and many stayed late as Willie Nelson delivered an impromptu concert beside his bus until two in the morning. Willie has since returned, for his 70th birthday party and to perform at the inductions of his friends Kris Kristofferson and Ray Price.

In 2002 a permanent home for the TCMHOF was opened beside the Chamber of Commerce building. A larger-than-life statue of Tex Ritter and his beloved horse White Flash overlooks the approach of the TCMHOF. A few miles east of Carthage, an impressive statue of Jim Reeves dominates his two-acre gravesite park. Many fans visit the Jim Reeves Park, and many more - sometimes by the busload - tour the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame exhibits.

Of course, the annual TCMHOF induction weekend is a major tourist attraction for Carthage. In addition to inductee performances - and there are posthumous inductions of deceased performers such as Bob Wills and Gene Autry and Lefty Frizzell, as well as Ritter and Reeves - there are special appearances by guest stars. Such inductees as Hank Thompson and his Brazos Valley Boys, Tanya "The Texas Tornado" Tucker, Jimmy Dean, the Gatlin Brothers, Johnny Rodriguez, the Texas Playboys, and, of course, Willie Nelson, have electrified the crowds. Grammy-winner Linda Davis from Panola County is an inductee who has made several crowd-pleasing appearances. The star power that radiates from Carthage each August draws larger and larger crowds. This year was the 15th anniversary of the TCMHOF, and the annual event was moved to a new Civic Center with a larger seating capacity. Indeed, the museum needs more exhibit space - the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame is a hit!

The logo of the TCMHOF is proudly displayed 
in the museum gift shop.

A display honoring Dale Evans and Red Steagall

                     

In 2006 the Gatlin brothers - Steve, Larry, and Rudy -

gave a memorable performance.

  
                        

Willie Nelson has electrified several crowds 
at the TCMHOF.

Jim Reeves began his entertainment career as a disk jockey. 

One of several display cases honoring Tex Ritter 

        

The Wall of Fame commemorates every 
member of the TCMHOF.

          

Statute of Jim Reeves at his gravesite

For more information:
http://www.carthagetexas.com/HallofFame/index.html

Long Before the Pilgrims

"Lone Star Historian" is a blog about the travels and activities of the State Historian of Texas. Bill O'Neal was appointed to a two-year term by Gov. Rick Perry on August 22, 2012, at an impressive ceremony in the State Capitol. Bill is headquartered at Panola College (www.panola.edu) in Carthage, where he has taught since 1970. For more than 20 years Bill conducted the state's first Traveling Texas History class, a three-hour credit course which featured a 2,100-mile itinerary. In 2000 he was awarded a Piper Professorship, and in 2012 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wild West Historical Association. Bill has published almost 40 books, half about Texas history subjects, and in 2007 he was named Best Living Non-Fiction Writer by True West Magazine.  

Long before the Pilgrims celebrated Thanksgiving at Plymouth in 1621, a similar feast of thanks was conducted in a region now known as Texas. In 1598 Mexican conquistador Juan de Oñate led an expedition northward to establish the colony of Nuevo Mejico. After surviving life-threatening hardships in the deserts of northern Mexico, the expedition emerged to safety at El Paso del Norte. To celebrate their salvation, Oñate and his colonists joined Native Americans in a feast on April 30, 1598 - the First Thanksgiving.



Our little book about the first Thanksgiving
was published in hardback in 2000, and
remains in print in softcover.



Several years ago I was urged by Ed Eakin, founder of Eakin Press, and by editor Melissa Locke Roberts to write this story for fourth-graders. Melissa skillfully guided me through the process of writing history for juveniles, and Eakin Press secured an experienced illustrator, Polsky Morgan. Since the story is an Hispanic adventure, I enlisted my oldest daughter, Lynn O'Neal Martinez. Lynn is the wife of Tejano Rudy Martinez, a banker from Corpus Christi, and they are the parents of two wonderful girls, my oldest grandchildren. As a college student Lynn studied Spanish, including a term in Mexico, and she became an elementary school teacher specializing in bilingual education.



Lynn O'Neal Martinez
translated our book with
the help of her students.
This photo credit should
go to her older daughter,
Chloe, while little sister
Jessie directed her mother
to raise her head and
smile more.



We decided that this book should be bilingual, with a page of English opposite a corresponding page of Spanish. After I completed this book in English, Lynn translated it into Spanish. At that time she was teaching fifth-graders at John H. Reagan Elementary in Dallas, where she was awarded Teacher of the Year honors. She read her translation to her students, who excitedly interrupted her from time to time. "Teacher! Teacher! Here's how we say that...."



Throughout the book a page of English faces a corresponding page of Spanish.
Illustrations were created by Polsky Morgan.



      Lynn's final translation combined formal Spanish with age-appropriate vernacular that was a major strength of the book. Of course, it was a delightful experience for me to collaborate with my daughter on a book. And Lynn's Tejano students, while working with their teacher on the translation, became familiar with a story of heroism and importance in Texas history.

Juan de Oñate was one of the wealthiest men in Mexico during the late 1500s. His wife was a granddaughter of conquistador Hernan Cortes and a great-granddaughter of the great Aztec chief, Montezuma. Oñate wanted to conquer a new frontier for Mexico, and he persuaded the Viceroy of Mexico, a personal friend, to appoint him as governor and captain-general of New Mexico to the north. Governor Oñate spent three years organizing a colonization expedition. He collected wagons and carts, supplies and livestock. Peasants were enlisted as colonists with the promise of the rank of hidalgo (from hijo de algo - "son of something"). Early in 1598 Governor Oñate assembled his colonists - more than 400 men, women, children, and soldiers. In addition there were 11 Franciscan priests. On the trail the expedition stretched for four miles.

Governor Oñate intended to blaze a new route northward. But on the deserts of northern Mexico the expedition ran low on food, water, and shoe leather. As the situation grew perilous, Governor Oñate sent eight men ahead to find water. At last they came upon the Rio Grande at a passage soon known as El Paso del Norte. They fished and hunted ducks and geese, and Native Americans from a nearby village brought a supply of fish.

By April 26, 1598, the entire expedition was encamped beneath cottonwood trees beside the river. Governor Oñate proclaimed that before the column crossed the river to march into New Mexico, there should be a celebration of gratitude to God for delivery. A feast was planned, which would include the friendly Native Americans. On March 30 everyone dressed in their best clothing: soldiers donned polished breastplates, priests wore vestments laced with gold, and Governor Oñate was resplendent in full armor. At a candlelit altar, the priests sang High Mass, and Father Alonso Martinez preached an appropriate sermon.

A captain from Spain put together a pageant about the expedition, with soldiers playing the various parts. At the end of the play the Indians knelt in the sand and were baptized. Trumpets then sounded as Governor Oñate steeped forward to claim New Mexico for Spain. Finally a bonfire was started, and fish and venison and duck were roasted. A feast ended the first Thanksgiving - 23 years before the Pilgrims feasted and prayed at Plymouth.



Statue of Juan de Oñate at the El Paso Airport.

 Governor Oñate led his colonists north and founded the province of New Mexico. With the passage of years the river channel changed at El Paso, and eventually the former south bank site of the 1598 event became part of Texas. In the 1980s, North America's first Thanksgiving began to be celebrated each April in El Paso. Men, women, and children dress in Spanish and Native American costumes, and near the Rio Grande the Thanksgiving celebration of 1598 is re-enacted. In 1998 a crowd - including a descendant of Juan de Oñate - gathered from as far away as Spain to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the first Thanksgiving.

Corsicana

"Lone Star Historian" is a blog about the travels and activities of the State Historian of Texas. Bill O'Neal was appointed to a two-year term by Gov. Rick Perry on August 22, 2012, at an impressive ceremony in the State Capitol. Bill is headquartered at Panola College (www.panola.edu) in Carthage, where he has taught since 1970. For more than 20 years Bill conducted the state's first Traveling Texas History class, a three-hour credit course which featured a 2,100-mile itinerary. In 2000 he was awarded a Piper Professorship, and in 2012 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wild West Historical Association. Bill has published almost 40 books, half about Texas history subjects, and in 2007 he was named Best Living Non-Fiction Writer by True West Magazine.  

The Navarro County Historical Society holds a banquet in Corsicana each year. I am a native of Corsicana and a longtime member of the Society, so I was enormously proud when asked to deliver the banquet address. The invitation was delivered by Bobbie Young, director of the Society and of Pioneer Village Museum in Corsicana. The event was held on Friday evening, November 9. The meal was excellent and the attendees were kindred spirits whose number included Sheriff Les Cotten, an avid local historian. An annual award, Navarro County Historian of the Year, was presented to Bruce McManus, who energetically tackles one historical project after another across the county.



My love for history was born and nurtured in Corsicana and Navarro County. George Owen, my great-grandfather and a Confederate veteran from Mississippi, brought his family to Navarro County in a wagon train in 1881. One of his children, seven-year-old Nannie, became my grandmother. The wagon train adventure was the most vivid experience of her life. She told me the story many times, and gave me a written account from an older cousin.  I identified personally every time I saw a Western movie with covered wagons at Corsicana's Ideal Theater, or at the Palace, the Rio, or the Grand. Nannie married Tom O'Neal, who came to Navarro County in the 1880s, a teenager from Georgia. The Owen and O'Neal families became landowners and cotton farmers, and Tom was an accomplished ginwright who built and managed cotton gins.



Navarro County was organized in 1846 and named after Texas Revolutionary patriot Jose Antonio Navarro. When given the honor of naming the county seat, Navarro chose "Corsicana," after his father's birthplace, the island of Corsica. The new town grew rapidly, and the first railroad reached Corsicana in 1871. After another line arrived in 1880, the population soon reached 5,000. The State Orphans Home was located in Corsicana, and so was the Odd Fellows Home for Orphans and Widows. There were handsome Victorian homes and churches and commercial buildings. 

Pioneer Village began in 1958 when this dogtrot plantation cabin was

moved from Chatfield to Corsicana's city park.

This antebellum plantation home was built on the western outskirts

of Corsicana by Roger Q. Mills, an attorney and prominent public

servant. Before the Civil War Mills was a member of the Texas

Legislature; he saw heavy combat as a Confederate cavalry

colonel; and after the war he served in both houses of Congress.





The magnificent First Methodist Church was erected in 1896.



 The bustling town outgrew its water supply. In 1894 drilling efforts produced oil instead of water. Soon there were derricks throughout the town, and Corsicana developed the first oil field and oil refinery west of the Mississippi River. In the early decades of the 20th century other oil fields were developed near Corsicana. The Corsicana Oilers fielded a superb baseball team in 1902, running away with the Texas League pennant and setting professional records which still stand (for example, there was a 51-3 rout of Texarkana which established all-time marks for runs and hits in a game, as well as future big league catcher J.J. Clarke's 8 home runs and 16 RBIs). 



One of my daughters, Dr. Shellie O'Neal, is the head of the drama department at Navarro College and has made her home in Corsicana for more than a decade. I asked Shellie to come to the banquet with me, and she also agreed to accompany me around town during the afternoon as I took photos for this blog. We started at Pioneer Village, an excellent collection of log buildings, as well as a Peace Officers Museum and a monument to Lefty Frizzell, Corsicana's famed Country singer.

We visited the site of Corsicana's discovery well and the original refinery. We photographed a variety of Victorian buildings, as well as the oldest structure at the Odd Fellows Home. We went to the home of Gov. Beauford  Jester and his grave. In 1949, during his second term, Jester became the first- and only - Texas governor to die in office. Temple Beth-El, built in 1898 with architecturally unique twin onion domes, was one of two Jewish synagogues on "Church Street." Today it is used as a community building.  



The Beth-El Temple, featuring twin onion domes, was built in 1898.



 

Following a few more stops, Shellie and I changed clothes and went to the banquet. It was a pleasure to address and socialize with fellow historians - a delightful evening in my home town. 



A park has been built at the site of

Corsicana's first oil well.

The oldest building at the Odd Fellows campus is the gymnasium/

auditorium, which had a swimming pool in the basement.

 





Gov. Beauford Jester died of a heart attack at
the age of 56.  Buried in his home town,
he is the only governor to die in office

during 166 years of Texas statehood.

 





A number of impressive old homes still stand in Corsicana.

Note the widow's walk atop the roof.

 






Statue of Country singer Lefty Frizzell