The Blooming Grove State Bank calendar, 1918
by Tim Campbell · first published 3 August 2017 · his original post
I came across this 1918 advertising calendar from Blooming Grove State Bank a few years ago, featuring a lovely and colorful victorian lady as its subject. This bank was formed in 1910 according to the Texas Dept of Banking. In 1926 it merged with Citizens National Bank of Blooming Grove. The officers as of 1918 were as follows:
President - Jessie Homer Whorton (1871-1947) Born in Georgia in 1871 to James Whorton and Mattie Boone, who migrated to the Gradyville / Blooming Grove area about 1877. He was an extensive landowner as well as business owner and banker and cotton buyer. Married Lucy Sanders. As of 1910 he owned a general store in Blooming Grove. His service as president of Blooming Grove State Bank appears to have been a side venture. He was the father of Homer Whorton who ran a store/garage in a metal building on Highway 22, across the road from the Barham Grain buildings when I was a kid.
Vice President - James Alphonso Smith (1859-1929) Born in Pontotoc County, Mississippi, son of Abraham and Sarah Smith. Married first to Sarah ____, and then later a second time to Ada Reid Green, widow of Dr. James Alexander Green of Blooming Grove. JA Smith owned a grocery store in Blooming Grove and appears to have also served as cashier of Blooming Grove State Bank simultaneously.
Cashier - Robert Lawson Harris (1878-1955) Born in 1878 at Cottonwood,(south of Barry) Navarro County, Tx. Son of James L. Harris and Martha Owens, who migrated from Louisiana to Navarro County about the year 1877. Married Cora McGlohen and had two daughters, both of whom married into the George family of Blooming Grove.
Assistant Cashier - John Richard Griffin (1885-1952) Born in 1885 near Dawson,Navarro County, Texas. Son of Henry and Emma Griffin who appear to have migrated to Navarro County from Alabama in the latter 1870s. JR Griffin married Verna Smith and they had numerous children. Their son Jack was a local football star and was a WW2 hero, killed in action.
Justin Oliver McSpadden, born in 1899 on the family farm south of Blooming Grove was a long time banker in Navarro County, and remembered that when he was 9 years old, he planted his first cotton crop all by himself, and after harvesting it sold it for a nice sum of money. He then went to Citizens National Bank in BG to open an account and as a joke the bank president took Justin into the bank vault to "show him where his money would be kept" and locked him in the vault for a few minutes. When the door was reopened the adults involved thought Justin would surely be crying but instead he told them that he liked the place and would work there one day. A few years later Justin landed a job at Blooming Grove State Bank, who typically hired a part time helper during cotton harvest time. He was paid $40 per month for his labors. When the Blooming Grove State Bank merged with Citizens National Bank in 1923, McSpadden's prophecy spoken as a 9 year old was fulfilled.
This piece was published without a title. The one above was written here; the words below are his.