The Blooming Grove Sun - the front page
by Tim Campbell · first published 29 July 2018 · his original post
I could be mistaken, but I don't recall any local historians of years past or even Navarro County historians who have made mention of a newspaper called the Blooming Grove Sun which existed before the Blooming Grove Times or the Blooming Grove Rustler ever came to be. The Blooming Grove Sun was published in the late 1880s, when the town had just moved up to be near the new Cotton Belt railroad line.
Thanks to some thoughtful soul, there are three partial issues of the Blooming Grove Sun which are known to survive. They are located at the University of California at Berkeley, of all places. Attached hereto is the right half of the front page of the Blooming Grove Sun which is dated August 18, 1889. I will be posting more pages soon.
On this page may be found the following - --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Article on the merits of a local newspaper.
Article about Jefferson Davis.
G.M Leftwick, Builder and Contractor, Advertisement (see notes below)
A.S. Henry, Dry Goods Store advertisement (see notes below)
THE FOLLOWING ARE NAMED IN NEWS FROM THE LONE OAK COMMUNITY -
Martha Boyd mentioned as being very sick
J.T. Rogers, returned from a visit to Bosque County
W.P. Barton, returned from a visit to Bosque County and is considering selling his farm and moving to Walnut Springs. He brought back 3 ears of corn weighing about a pound and a half each without the shucks. (See notes below)
Jim Gant, returned from a prospecting tour from northwest Texas and "is willing to stay a while longer in Navarro County" (referring cleverly to the unsuccessful nature of the trip). (See notes below. )
L.R. Outlay? or Oatlay? or Outlaw? (difficult to make out) was visited by nephew D.A. Stewart and niece Mrs. Gorden, of Haywood County, Tennessee. Stewart was the treasurer of the organization known as "The Grange".
Mr. and Mrs. J.R. Evans, guest of the editor of the BG Sun. (Refers to himself as "your scribe")
Mr. Baker and family of Spring HIll, guests of the editor of the BG Sun.
J.T. Richardson and family of Hubbard City, guests of the editor of the BG Sun.
Elder Harvey Conway held a "protracted meeting" on Saturday. (See Notes Below)
The BG Sun editor attended a meeting held at Lone Oak Baptist Church and learned from the reading of minutes that the congregation intended to build a new house of worship near Lone Oak Schoolhouse if grounds can be secured.
Joseph P. Henry moved his sorghum mill from Blooming Grove to Mill Creek (runs alonside Chambers Creek north of Blooming Grove).
Reference is made to "Mr. Brumbelow's mill" from which smoke may be seen rising daily.
Mr. Spikes sold his cotton crop to Mel Deason.
Bob Taylor has purchased the "Dr. Sewell place" where Mr. Brumbelow lives for $20 per acre.
REPORT of the Navarro County Grand Jury to Hon. Rufus Hardy, District Court Judge. They investigated the misconduct of Justice of the Peace J. L. Burgess and found none. W.D. Johnson was foreman of the jury. Credit is given to the "Corsicana Observer" for this article. NAVARRO COUNTY DISTRICT COURT report - State vs J.T.Saver(?), Disposing of Mortgaged Property State vs. Willie Hughes, perjury State v. Willie Hughes, forgery State vs. J.H. Brown, swindling and theft, not guilty State vs. August Bowers, charged with cutting a wire fence, case being tried by J.J. McClellan
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MY NOTES - A.S. Henry and his little brother Charles F. Henry opened a dry goods store in old Gradyville prior to 1880. These boys had come to Gradyville from Cherokee County, Texas to seek their fortune. By 1889 it appears Charles may have gone back to Rusk County and A.S. was operating the dry goods store alone and presumably had relocated the store in the new town one mile to the north. Joseph P. Henry, also mentioned in the paper as the operator of a syrup mill (which he moved from Blooming Grove to Mill Creek, a few miles north), was the older brother of A.S. and Charles. These Henry boys were all children of Patrick and Amanda Henry of Cherokee County.
George Madison (G.M.) Leftwick (aka Leftwich) was from Maury County, Tennessee and came to Texas as a young man. He was in the construction business. By 1900 he had settled down in Jacksboro, Texas. On August 10, 1901 a group of horse thieves were discovered to be holed up in a house 7 miles outside of Jacksboro. The local sheriff, named Maddox, deputized George and a number of other local men and a posse was formed to go after the horse thieves. The posse traveled on horseback to the location where the thieves were known to be and a gunfight ensued in which George was shot and killed. The thieves held off the posse until nightfall and escaped into the darkness. William Peter (W.P.) Barton, 1855-1930, son of Aaron Terrell Barton was probably born in the Dresden area where his father came from South Carolina. The Bartons moved to the Gradyville / Blooming Grove area and on to Lone Oak. W.P. is buried at the Lone Oak Cemetery.
James (Jim) Forgey Gant (Gantt) was born in 1859 in Union County, Arkansas. He was the son of James Gantt Sr and Nancy Forgey, both Tennesseans. He died of tuberculosis in 1933 in Blooming Grove with Dr. Kelsey attending. He and wife Lula Cohorn are interred at Loan Oak Cemetery. This couple appears to have had at least 7 children, most if not all of which were girls.
"L.R. Outlay" is difficult to make out and this is probably Lewis Bolaver Outlaw (1829-1907) who was living on Main Street in Gradyville in 1880. He is interred at White Church.
"Elder Harvey Conway" is the Reverend Harvey Andrew Conway, a Baptist preacher, (1857-1934), a native of Alabama who came to Texas at a young age with his parents to Cherokee County, Texas. He is buried at Prarie Grove Cemetery in Emmett. Consistent with the typical minister of the day, he moved around quite a bit. After marrying he lived variously in Erath County, Navarro County, and Tarrant County.
"Mr. Brumbelow" would be one of several Brumbelow men who were in the Blooming Grove area in the 1880s. Most of the Brumbelow boys who were the right age were ex Confederate soldiers.
Mel Deason was Melvin Geter Deason, (1867-1960) a long time resident of Blooming Grove, who was a plumber among other things, spoke in a notoriously colorful language, and went down in Grovian history as the only person to have ridden the first train into Blooming Grove and the last train out. He is the poster boy for the Tales From The Grove facebook blog. Mel was born in Overton, Texas and died in Henrietta, Texas, but spent the vast majority of his life in Blooming Grove and he is buried here.
The "Dr. Sewell Place" probably refers to Dr. Abraham James Sewell, a native of Georgia, who was practicing medicine in Gradyville in the early days. In 1884, a Miss Trotman had come to Blooming Grove from Dr. Sewell's hometown in Georgia, and was staying at the Sewell household, when one night a man entered her room and got in bed with her. She fought the man and yanked out a piece of his beard, then ran to Dr. and Mrs. Sewell's bedroom for help as the attacker fled. After some time and the advisement of certain ne'er-do-wells that perhaps the young lady could acquire some of Dr. Sewell's money, Miss Trotman accused Dr. Sewell of being the attacker. Most of the town felt that he was certainly innocent, and that the beard Miss Trotman pulled from her attacker was part of a fake beard. Nevertheless a Navarro County court found Dr. Sewell guilty, his reputation was soiled, and he and his family moved to McGregor, Texas.
This piece was published without a title. The one above was written here; the words below are his.