Fairplay Community
by Virgil Mordie Holland, M.D., submitted by Marylee KnightI have typed off a little booklet that Dr. Holland wrote in 1970 in which he detailed his recollections of growing up in the Fairplay area. A copy of it was shared with me by Mrs. Casie Lee Hines. She was given the copy by Dr. Holland himself as she is mentioned by name, although her name is misspelled. On the front page Dr. Holland stated, "This tract maybe reproduced or duplicated in any manner if the author is given proper credit."
Virgil Mordie Holland, M.D.
Born 03-04-1918
Died 10-30-1990
Buried Bethlehem Cemetery, Snap Community, Panola County TX
The following information was composed by Virgil Mordie Holland in 1970. He was a prominent Panola County physician and a life long collector of local history. His particular talent was that he could examine an old photograph and, judging by the clothing and hair styles, give a close estimate of the year in which the picture was made.
He was a son of David Mordie Holland and Lois Elizabeth Allison who was the daughter of Gustavus Allison (a son of Elizabeth Shaw and Thomas G. Allison) and Minnie Sharp (a daughter of Richard Vastine Sharp and Eliza Hodge).
The first page of the booklet contains the statement: "This tract may be reproduced or duplicated in any manner if the author is given proper credit." We do, indeed, give Dr. Holland a tremendous amount of credit for recording the valuable information about earlier times in the Fairplay Community.
We also thank Mrs. Casie Lee Owens-Hines for generously sharing her personal copy of the booklet in order to preserve the information it contained.
Neighbors
Fairplay 1920-1930
In growing up in a rural East Texas community in the 1920's, early in life you realize the importance of neighbors. There is a dependency for assistance, physical and otherwise, and a dependency for fellowship as our contact with the outside world was pretty limited.Before I was six, I had probably been out of the immediate community less than ten times. I thought it would be of some interest to write about all the people who lived in the community of Fairplay, Texas between 1920 and 1930 in so far as I can remember and determine with a little research. I am sure this will be of more interest to me than anyone else.
When I first remember, we lived in a house on the Carthage-Henderson road about one mile east of the store at Fairplay. Early on frosty mornings, we could hear a train whistle to the northeast. This was the train from Carthage to Beckville and already trains, and especially train whistles, conjured up visions of faraway places that, at this time, I had very little hopes of ever seeing. Our world centered about our neighbors and, in the early years, about our closest neighbors.
Our closest neighbors were Andrew and Margaret Futch, who lived about 50 yards west of our house on the same side of the road. One time at about four years, I was sent to borrow a cup of sugar from Margaret, which is the first time that I can remember going anywhere by myself. The fifty yards seemed a terrible distance at the time and I kept a wary eye for dogs and other ferocious beasts.
They (the Futch family) were from Louisiana and, for some reason, had moved to Panola County. They had two daughters, Versie and Blondell. Blondell married Linus Steger, a son of Melville Steger and Estelle Ross in the Delray Community. Versie married Hoyt Pierce in the same community who was born September 24, 1894 and who died October 24, 1915 leaving her pregnant. She later was to deliver twin boys - Clyde and Claude. Hoyt was a member of a large family of Pierces in the Delray Community including a brother later to marry Lois Lawrence.
Dennis Austin, who lived a bit further up the road to the west, had lost his wife Axie Dobbins who was the daughter of Kate and Lafayette Dobbins. She had died with complications of her leg following gangrene. Axie and Dennis had four children who were Doyle, Addis, Cozette and Alegra. He needed a second wife badly and heard of the comely widow in the next community.
They were soon married and Versie brought her twins to live in the household. Shortly, he and Versie Futch had a daughter, Laretta, who was about three years younger than the twins, and shortly another daughter, Doris. Dennis had a large tract of excellent farm land and he prospered. He had one of the best houses in Fairplay and was one of the first to own a car in the community. Shortly, he moved Versie's parents to live in the house on his land previously mentioned. Later, Linus and Blondell moved into another house between the two.
Dennis was an avid bird hunter and owned a large English Setter. During bird season, it was a common sight to see him on his mule, bareback, gun in hand and bird dog at heel on the way to suitable bird cover. He was very well thought of in the community and a member of the Baptist Church which he attended every Sunday with the kids who could not get in the car swinging on the funning board and kicking at every dog along the way that condescended to chase the car.
This idyllic situation came to an abrupt end when Dennis died of some type of heart condition. Dennis and Axie's children refused to stay with Versie. The two girls were taken by Charlie Austin, their uncle. Doyle and Addis moved out to live in a small house near by in which they batched.
There was a division of the land. Versie and her two daughters received the house and about eighty acres of land around the house and a tract of pasture and timber of about 100 acres on Buckner Creek that was reached through a lane about one half mile down the road from the house.
Andrew and Margaret Futch moved in with Versie. Linus and Blondell moved into the house in which the Futches had been living.
The Steger children were Hershal (named after an uncle), Ruth, Winston and Olive Vee. Hershal was near my age and the others closely matched my siblings ages. I remember many hours playing with Hershal as we visited back and forth.
Mother always told us when we visited there that we could stay an hour and to have Blondell tell us when the hour was up. I do not remember her ever calling time.
As I remember it, we were enticed with wheels. We rolled steel hoops from wagon wheel hubs, with wire guides taken from the tops of old wash tubs. We nailed lids of suitable size to the ends of boards and another on the other end to serve as a steering wheel. When all these were being moved, we made the suitable noises with our mouths to imitate an automobile traversing the roads. When we because exhausted from the running, we would sit on bales of cotton in the fall, or anything else available and watch the cars pass, trying to name the make of each that passed. This was easy to do at the time as each make was different enough to be readily recognized.
Clyde and Claude were not old enough initially to do much farming. Andrew Futch could, for a time, farm most of the land with some help. Claude did not do very well in school and liked to stay home and plough. He did more of this than Clyde. In the late twenties, Clyde developed "a fulminating fever" from which he died in about three days. This was probably a meningitis, and any effective treatment for this disease was still ten plus years in the future.
Down the road to the east was, first, a colored family - Guy and Babe Gates. Guy was a son of Leoma Wallace who was a daughter of Stewart Wallace. He was a deacon in the Baptist Church and was one whose word could be trusted and a good neighbor. They had a daughter 3 - 4 years older than I. She was an intelligent little girl doing well in school. I can remember her reading "Chicken Little" to me when I was 4 - 5 years old. She was later encouraged, by Babe I think, to marry Jerry Brown who was at least ten years her senior. She had one child and died of complications of childbirth.
Next in the same direction were members of the Samuel Sidney Harris and Ophelia Amos family. Sam was a son of John Cullen Harris and Nancy Caroline Dunlap. His siblings who also lived in the community at one time or another were Alfred Brown Harris and James Robert Harris.
Sam married Ophelia who grew up in the Dotson Community. After his marriage he lived there for several years. His older son, Curtis, married Bobbie Boucher of this community. She was a grand daughter of Gade B. Boucher and Barbara Hoyle. Barbara was a sister of the father of Sarah Hoyle who married Thomas G. Allison.
Curtis and Bobbie lived in the next house past us to the east. At this time they had two children, Edward and Marie. Edward was probably the best childhood friend I ever had. He and I visited frequently and played constantly while we were together.
The next neighbor was Robert "Bob" Harris and Pearl Phillips. They had two children, Hayward about my age and John D. about four years younger than I. When he was about four years old, Hayward fell in a syrup mill furnace and sustained severe burns to his head, face, arms and back. This was before the advent of skin grafting for this type burn. He recovered, but was about two years in the process.
Sam Harris and Ophelia Amos lived in a house with an octagon shaped parlor on the front and a long hall with rooms on each side that was built by Arthur Henigan. In front of the house was a small building which Arthur had used as a store, but which was used as a cotton seed house by Sam.
When Sam moved back to Fairplay, he had bought land on the Beckville road about a quarter mile from the store. The two (Sam Harris and Arthur Henigan) swapped land and houses. I can barely remember when Cora and Arthur Henigan lived here.
Sam and Ophelia's children were Robert, Curtis, Lucy (married Colbert Holland), Raymond (married Christine Harris), Tommy (married Mary McGraw), Marvin, Turner and Durward. The last three were living at home at this time. Durward was about my age and one of my best friends. Later Durward and Edward moved with their families to Carthage. I remember feeling a distinct loss at the time and really had no other friends as close. Tommy Harris, too, had married a Dotson girl, Mary, and they later had children: Tommy Jewel, Mildred, Mozelle and Lonnie.
On the left, just before you reached Irons Bayou was a house on a hill on the north side of the road. This belonged to Jessie James Sealey who owned a tract of land that extended along the Irons Bayou almost to the Beckville road.
Lem Ownes and wife Rena, colored, lived here. Lem had a number of children by his first wife and he and Rena had only one, Cayce Lee. Lem was a powerful man in his prime. In the day when East Texas cattle were being dipped every month during tick season to get rid of the fever tick, I once saw him grab a cow that had gotten turned around in the dipping vat by the tail and bodily lift her to turn her around. Lem farmed, but he and his sons spent time helping Jess handle his cattle.
When I first remember, the road to Carthage on which these people lived was unpaved and a narrow country road with high banks on either side. In winter and spring these roads could be muddy.
About 1923 they began making a highway out of this road. The first thing they did was widen the road considerable. Fences had to be moved back and timber cleared. The timber was cut into lengths that could be dragged out by a team. The stumps were removed by dynamite. This was the first dynamite I had ever seen used. One stick under an average stump would blow it out of the ground where it could be dragged off with a team. One time they left a sack of this dynamite after they quit work. Clyde and Claude Pierce and Hershal Steger found it and decided they would blow up some persimmon trees near their pond. They had cut back the case to expose the explosive, had it under a tree and were building a sire over it to set it off when discovered. They say dynamite will only burn when set afire, but this is a risky way to make this discovery.
Pages 1 2 3 4