Bosque County: Land and People (A History of Bosque County, Texas) Page: 61
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ro1NT
We've come a long way since horse power!
house and store with two horses hooked to a
hack. The peddler wanted to cross the river,
but George said there was no way. Deter-
mined to cross, the peddler got into water so
deep he had to cut the horses loose and swim
back to shore. Later Ophas Powell and Jessie
Hudson retrieved the hack.
A double tragedy occurred in this commu-
nity in 1881. On the south side of the
cemetery was a Methodist church where
members were getting ready to start a revival.
In those days, water wells were dug by hand.
The men were going to clean out the well by
the church. When twenty-two year old T.N.
Womble went down into the well, he passed
out. His fifty-one year old father, T.F.
Womble, went down to get his son and he, too,
passed out. Both men lost their lives from a
poisonous gas that had settled in the bottom
of the well.
A family named Womack lived north of the
Brazos Point Cemetery on the Brazos River.
He was fishing one day and caught a huge fish
from under a rock. Since that time it has been
called Womack Rock.
There were two cotton gins in the area. One
was located near Powell Springs in old Brazos
Point; the other was a half mile north of
present Brazos Point. It was owned and
operated by Wilborn Sanderson, a son-in-law
of Aaron Turner.
J. Harry Stanford's paternal grandfather,
Harrison Stanford, with his family and that
of his father-in-law, Joseph Day, moved to
Johnson County from Collin County in 1866.
Joseph Day was an early day Methodist
circuit rider. These famlies settled on a
section of land now known as "Five Oaks"
about a mile east of old Brazos Point bridge.
The first public crossing on the Brazos in that
part of the county was on their land.
Harrison Stanford operated the first cot-
ton gin located near Powell Springs, a half
mile west of "Five Oaks." It was first
operated as a horse-powered gin but later it
was steam-powered. At that time cotton seed
was considered good for nothing but planting.
After the planters took what seed they
needed, the rest was left at the gin. When the
stack of seed became too large, it was burned.
When steam was used to run the gin, many
tons of seed were used to fuel the engine.
Harrison Stanford and Joseph Day took
logs from the Brazos River bottoms to build
their homes and other buildings. They fenced
their fields with split rails and rock.
As you travel through the Brazos Point,
Eulogy, and Lone Oak communities in the
1980's, you see a vast difference from when
I was growing up. All three of these communi-
ties were good farming land with fields of
corn, cotton, peanuts, milo, oats, rye, and
sudan for hay. It was a beautiful sight toBrazos Point Cemetery.
behold in springtime or fall. When harves-
time came, one would look across acres of
cotton white as snow and wonder if it were
possible to harvest it all before it rained,
hailed, or a storm came to ruin it. But it
seemed that everyone was happy and not in
such a rush as we are today, although work
was done from sun-up to sun-down.
There are still quite a lot of families living
in the Brazos Point area, but there is no row
cropping to any great extent. There are a few
acres of peanuts, but most of the land is
planted in oats in late fall or in spring for feed
and pasture. Sudan is also planted in the
spring for the same purpose. Almost every
family has several head of cattle. Most of the
younger families have jobs away from home.
by Mrs. Ella Osborne
THE EULOGY COMMUNITY
C30
From the book In Remembrance
of Our Ancestors
The community of Eulogy was founded by
Charles Walker Smith, who moved his store
from Brazos Point to the prairie land around
Eulogy. Smith's Eulogy store was completed
July, 1884. The event was celebrated with a
barbecue, picnic, and square dance. Smith set
up a post office in his store in 1885, and was
named the first postmaster of Eulogy.
Soon after, many businessmen moved in.
They voted to petition for a post office at a
point where the road from Glen Rose to
Morgan crossed the road from Cleburne to
Walnut Springs. Since Uncle Billye Smith
owned a store in the community and everyone
for miles loved the old man, they wanted to
call the post office Smithville. But there was
already a Smithville near Houston, so the
name was turned down. One of the men in the
postal department commented that it was too
bad, because they certainly did eulogize that
old man. Someone laughingly suggested that
it be called Eulogy.
In 1903, there were many businesses in
Eulogy. E.B. Lain operated the Lain-Craven
General Store. The walls of their old rock
building were only recently torn down. Joe
Lain owned a drug store. The postmaster was
Albert Jolly. Perry Johnson ran a general
store. A drug store was run by Dr. Tuggle. A
barber shop was run by Pat McCauagin. A
blacksmith shop was built and operated by
John Tidwell, and later used by Tom Man-
tooth.
In 1898, A.J. Walton sold six acres of the
Preston Pevyhouse Survey to W.B. Thomp-Erra1
Eulogy School, circa 1910son, who was trustee of the school on which
to build a public school. Walter was paid
$36.00 for block number 9.
A two-story wooden building was erected
in which were taught ten grades. In 1905, Mrs.
Sally Jefferson was the teacher, at which time
Mrs. Daisy Bible was County Superinten-
dent. The school building was used not only
for school. The upper story was used for a
Masonic Lodge, an Eastern Star Lodge, a
Woodman of the World Lodge, and an Odd
Fellow Lodge.
The two-story wooden building burned in
1929. The church house was used as a
schoolhouse until the new red brick building
was completed in 1931. Lee Evans, J.L.
Williams, and O.C. Giblin were trustees at
that time. Mrs. Clara Richards was County
Superintendent, and C.L. Miller of Cleburne
was the contractor. The school is now consoli-
dated with Walnut Springs, and the building
is used for parties and a homecoming meeting
place.
At one time Eulogy had three churches-a
Baptist, Methodist, and Church of Christ.
There was a tabernacle located by the Baptist
church building.
There was a telephone office in Eulogy.
There was a syrup mill run by a Mr. Madan.
There was also a canning factory owned by
Dave Pace.
Eulogy once had four doctors-Dr. Powell,
Dr. Tuggle, Dr. Williamson, and Dr. Faivero.
The latter was a lady doctor, which was
unusual in those days. One day she was so
tired from working, and her eyes were hurting
so badly, that she picked up a bottle of
chlorine acid instead of eye medicine. She
had a hard time getting over the accident.
At one time, a Mr. Jones operated a barber
shop in Eulogy. Later Lawrence Glass ran it.
Still later, Bill McVicker took it for a time.
When Harlan Powell was twelve years old,
he was secretary for both the Methodist and
Baptist Sunday Schools. He still has the
record books. The Methodists met at ten-
thirty in the morning, and the Baptists met
at two-thirty in the afternoon. Tom Craven
was the teacher, and they had the same pupils
at both meetings. Powell said he did not know
if he was Methodist or Baptist until Mrs.
Boone thought they ought to have a Baptist
for secretary. He hadn't known he was not a
Baptist. Harlan said that Mrs. Boone was the
mother-in-law of Bob McAlister. Bob was
county clerk at Glen Rose, (Somervell
County).
Bob McAlister was a small man, Harlan
said, but one day Harlan saw him lift a bale
of cotton and put it on a wagon. Harlan did
not know how he was able to do it, but it made
an impression on Harlan who hauled cotton
in the summer time when he was fourteen or
61I
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Bosque County History Book Committee. Bosque County: Land and People (A History of Bosque County, Texas), book, 1985; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth91038/m1/77/?rotate=90: accessed July 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Denton Public Library.