Cooper Review (Cooper, Tex.), Vol. 130, No. 16, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 22, 2010 Page: 2 of 6
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Cooper Review - Page 2
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Voices
Bob Bowman's East Texas
By Bob Bowman
Those strange town names
While some early East Texans named
their towns for families, their hometowns or
landmarks, othes were a tad more creative.
Which brings us to Tadmor in Houston
County. Most folks think the name comes
from the expression “let me have a tad more
of that.”
Actually, the name comess from the Bible,
where it describes a city built by Solomon “in
the wilderness” or somewhere on the southern
border of Palestine.
In Rusk County around 1901, a group of
young boys decided to go hunting one autumn
night, but failed to bag any game.
Late in the night, feeling hungry, they
swiped a couple of chickens from a farmer,
built a fire behind New Hope Church, roasted
the chickens and satisfied their hunger.
To hide the evidence of their theft, they
tossed the chicken feathers and viscera into a
water well from which churchgoers and school
children drew their water each day.
Contaminated with the chickens’ remains,
the well had to be cleaned out and salted
to restore the water to drinkable quality.
Thereafter, New Hope was better known as
Chickenfeather.
Magnolia Springs, a scattered community
in Jasper County, was once known as
Pinetucky.
While the exact origin of the name has
been lost, it probably came from the vast
stands of virgin pine trees which covered the
area with the addition of “tucky,” which in
the language of the Old South meant land or
territory.
When a rural community in northwest
Anderson County, sent in a list of potential
names for its new post office, a storekeeper
accidently included a customer’s request for a
yard of cloth. The government named the post
office Yard.
In Delta County, Mary (Grannie) Sinclair,
the matriarch of her family, raised goats on
a three-mile neck of land that jutted into the
South Sulphur River.
The community was soon dubbed
Grannie’s Neck
Lick Skillet is a name that courses through
the history of rural East Texas. For more than
a hundred years or so, it has been attached to
communities, creeks, roads and anything else
where people have a sense of humor.
The name supposedly came about when
newcomers arrived late for a community
dinner and found that all of the food
had been consumed, leading someone
to admonish them to “lick the skillet.”
Located five miles west of Alto in Cherokee
County, Weeping Mary was first settled after
the Civil War by freed slaves from neighboring
plantations.
It’s name reportedly came from the 20th
chapter of the Book of John, where Mary goes
to the tomb of Jesus after he was crucified:
“...and when she had thus said, she turned
herself back and saw Jesus standing, and knew
not that it was not Jesus. Jesus saith unto her,
Woman, why weepest thou?”
Cuthand and a nearby creek in Red River
County got its names from a Deleware Indian
chief who was instrumental in arranging a
treaty with unfriendly Indian tribes.
The chief had lost three fingers from a
sabor’s slash in his younger days and because
of his disigurement, he was thereafter known
as Cut Hand.
(Bob Bowman of Lufkin is the author of
more than 40 books about East Texas. He can
be reached at bob-bowman.com)
In Years Gone By
From the files of The Cooper Review
Ten Years Ago
A Northeast Texas
delegation of elected officials
and economic development
professionals visited
Washington D.C. this week in
an effort to gain support for an
AMTRAK route through this
area.
The count is in, and the
Delta County United Fund
Campaign that climaxed with
the Awesome Auction on April
8th has brought in a grand
total of $26,500. Thanks to
the hard work of the firemen
and the generous donations
of cash and merchandise by
individuals and businesses,
the campaign made a great
showing.
Twenty Years Ago
The new Cooper City Hall
and Bruce Fielding Memorial
Fire Station will be open for
public viewing Saturday, April
28th. Volunteer firemen will
also on that day, serve free
“Fire Boys Stew” as a token of
their appreciation to residents
of Cooper who helped make
the new facility possible
through their donations.
Thirty Years Ago
City of Cooper Alderman
J.O. McGuyer, Mrs. JoAnn
Preas and Leonard Mays were
sworn into the office Monday
evening, taking the oath from
Mrs. Pat Barr following the
canvass of votes cast in the
April 5 election.
For the fourth consecutive
year, members of the Cooper
High School Golf Team
walked away with the 16A
District Championship.
Members of the team are
Damon Floyd, John Janes,
Eric Carrington, Bill Adams,
Cooper Thacker and Kris
Walker.
Forty Years Ago
Richard Tatum, pastor
of first Baptist Church, will
lead the Cooper Lions Club as
president for the coming year.
Cooper High School
Athletic Director Fred
Willerson presented plaques
to Mark Adams and Nelda
Rainey as outstanding athletes
at the school, and to Dean
Harrison as outstanding teams’
fan at the All-Night Sports
Banquet held Saturday night
at the school gymnasium.
Fifty Years Ago
Hail stones, some about
the size of tennis balls, fell
at Lake Creek last weekend
considerably damaging roofs
of homes and buildings,
however no injuries were
reported.
Some fifteen persons from
Cooper attended the Red River
Valley Association meeting
in Shreveport last week
and presented a resolution
asking for the association’s
endorsement of Sulphur River
Municipal Water District’s
stand. After over an hour of
discussion, the resolution
committee rejected Cooper’s
proposal.
Owners - Jim and Sally Butler
JimB@Cooperreview.com
Publisher/Editor - Roger Palmer
Roger@Cooperreview. com
Office Manager/Staff Writer - Kimberly Palmer
Kim@C ooperreview. com
THE COOPER REVIEW (UPS 131940) is printed weekly, except the
fourth week in December. Second Class Postage is paid at Cooper, Texas
75432.
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MEMBER
2009
TU
TEXAS PRESS
ASSOCIATION
nm
IT
On The River
li
With ET
Jim Adair’s Gourds
Remember growing up and some of the
crazy things you may have done? Possibly
some places have equaled the shenanigans
that occurred around the Charleston Store but
surely none have surpassed. From my ledger:
January 5,1982. Stanley Mathews and Nathan
Elmore now live away but last night came
home to Charleston and spent the night with
kinfolks, Doc and Peggy Watson. When those
two get with Doc they have just got to go coon
hunting. Didn’t get to bed until wee hours.
After the sleepyheads woke up they came up
to the store. Huck Elmore and I were there and
we all told stories from yesteryear.
Years earlier several boys were on the front
porch of the store one night shooting dice by
the light of the pay phone booth. Nathan lost
his money and plotted revenge. Went up the
road to Jim Adair’s garden fence and pulled
off a few big gourds. Green and heavy. Drove
back by the store about fifty miles per hour
and chunked a big, long handled gourd at
the group on the porch. David Elmore turned
around just in time for the gourd to py-yi him
right between the eyes. Nathan was afraid he
had killed his little brother and went back to
check but David was by then ready to fight.
A few months later one night a group was
engaged in another friendly game of galloping
dominoes by the light of the same phone
booth. Some of the neighbors were bothered
by the noise and called the sheriff. Everybody
scattered as Sheriff Benny Fisher pulled up.
Wayne Cooper went around behind the store
and climbed on top. Benny was standing by
the porch hollering for everybody to come on
out. Someone days earlier had thrown a Coke
case up on top of the store. (Back then Coke
cases were heavy wooden boxes.) Wayne
dropped that Coke case right behind Benny
and it made a loud noise landing on the gravel.
Benny jerked that pistol out and spun around.
Lucky he didn’t shoot somebody.
Once David Elmore and Wayne Cooper
“went in halvers” on an old car. Got it really
cheap. Hot rodded it around Charleston a
few days. Finally decided to just run it off in
North Sulphur Channel north of Jay Gentry’s
Store at Pacio. Pulled up and peeped over the
steep bank. Some people were fishing almost
directly below but off to the side just a little.
David hollered to look out because they were
gonna run a car off the bank. The people
thought they were joking and said, “Bring it
on.” Just kept fishing. Those two boys backed
that old car up about fifty yards and tied the
steering wheel to make it go straight. Put a
brick on the “foot feed” and let er rip. By the
time the boys ran up and peeped over the bank
the fishermen had already gathered their gear
and were out of sight. Maybe you’ve got some
stories you want me to print. Send ‘em in.
Game Warden News: In Gillespie County
a rancher found a blackbuck carcass and bag
of trash in the road ditch near his place. A
warden searched the trash and found a receipt
from a store in Fredericksburg. Checked with
the store and looked at the video taken at the
time of the purchase. Saw the man’s picture
and that he paid with a credit card. Got his
name and found it in the phone book. Called
the man who got a ticket and had to clean up
the mess.
Tragedy from the past: Mrs. R., the
woman who became infatuated with a hired
hand and assisted in the murder of her husband
near Paris was sentenced to the penitentiary
for seven years. The hired hand had cut the
sleeping husband’s throat and was sentenced
to life in prison. (Honey Grove Signal - May
9, 1902)
April 24 find Saturn to the left of the Moon
as night falls. Saturn looks like a golden star.
April 25 Saturn will be to the upper left of the
Moon. April 26 Spica is close to the lower left
of the Moon. April 30 Antares, the heart of
the Scorpion, is close to the upper right of the
Moon as they rise about midnight and will be
low in the southwest before daylight on May
1.
Congratulations to Nephew Ryan Trapp
and wife Koni on the birth of their baby girl,
Laney Elizabeth.
Some notes on parenthood: If it was going
to be easy it wouldn’t start with something
called labor. Screaming at kids to get results
is like trying to steer your car by honking the
horn. The Golden Age is when kids are too
old to need a baby sitter and too young to
borrow the car. Grandparents are like a piece
of string. Handy to have around and easily
wrapped around the fingers of grandchildren.
Adolescence is when children try to raise their
parents. Trying to clean house with kids inside
is like shoveling your driveway during a snow
storm. An alarm clock is a device for waking
people that don’t have small children.
Dear Sam, I have been unable to sleep
since I made you stop dating my daughter.
Will you forgive and forget? I was much too
sensitive about your piercings, Mohawk, and
tattoos. I am sure some more nice people live
under that bridge, too. Sure, my daughter is
only eighteen and wants to go to Harvard on a
full scholarship but there is more to life than
book learning. I have come to my senses and
you have my permission to date my daughter
again. Sincerely, your future father in law.
RS. Congratulations on winning the lottery.
etra327@embarqmail.com
That Wonderful Year 1965
According to the Thursday,
April 22, 1965 issue of the
Cooper Review:
The long delayed Cooper Dam and
Reservoir project authorized by Congress
in 1955 to be constructed on South Sulphur
River a few miles southeast of Cooper came
in for a major part of the discussion at the 40th
Annual Convention of the Red River Valley
Association this week. The convention was
held in Shreveport, Louisiana April 19 and
20.
Mayor L.M. Anderson has issued an
invitation to the general public to attend a
meeting Thursday night, April 22 at 7:30
at City Hall. The city council will be joined
by Representatives of the SRMWD Board
and the City Planning Board in summarizing
the information on the Cooper Reservoir
Project given at the R.R.V.A. Convention in
Shreveport earlier this week.
Col. (ret.) William V. Rattan has retired
as an active vice president of the National
Bank of Fort Benning, Georgia, according to a
joint statement by Brig. Gen. (ret.) M.B. Bell,
chairman of the board, and William A. Lyman,
president of the bank.
The Student Council selected as recipient
of the Student of the Month award, National
Beta Club member Norma Jean Roberson,
daughter of Rev. and Mrs. Joel H. Roberson,
Route 1, Pecan Gap.
A benefit style show, in which several
Cooper merchants will cooperate, is being
announced by the Cooper Parent-Teacher
Association. The show will be staged on
Friday, April 30 in the high school gymnasium
beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Three members of Delta Lodge 1240
AF&AM and their wives were in Paris Monday
evening to attend an organization meeting of
the Red River Valley Association.
Dr. Glen G. Janes was re-elected president
of the Delta Country Club at the annual
stockholders meeting, which was held Monday
night at the club.
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Palmer, Roger. Cooper Review (Cooper, Tex.), Vol. 130, No. 16, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 22, 2010, newspaper, April 22, 2010; Cooper, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth804969/m1/2/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Delta County Public Library.