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Keeping ’Em Rolling
For 15 Years
ON U. S. ROYAL TIRES
and Guaranteed Re-Caps
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Serving With SINCL AIR Gasoline
and Oil Products
GRAY’S
B PERRY,
GA.
WORDNA S. GRAY
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MUSE THEATRE j
A MARTIN & THOMPSON THEATRE I
PERRY, GA.
II
Dedicated To Your Pleasure
Comfort and Convenience
“Where There’s Always
A Good Show!”
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7 Members Started Houston Lodge No. 35 In 1844
Masonic
Order Here
Outstanding
Houston Lodge No. 35, F.&A.M.,
which celebrated its 100th anni
versary in 1944, has always been
one of the strongest organiza
tions in the Grand Lodge of Geor
gia.
A directory of all Masons in
Georgia, dated in 1846, shows
the officers and members of
Houston Lodge. The book is the
property of the local order.
The officers in 1846 were Tim
othy Furlow, worshipful master;
P.B.D.H. Culler, senior warden;
James M. Kelly, junior warden;
J. M. Cooper, treasurer; B.
Batton, secrcta/y; J. S. Dennard,
senior deacon; J. E. Duncan,
junior deacon; J. G. White, tyler;
W. M. Haslam and James Tur
rentine, stewards.
The members included J. B.
Davis, S. W. Webb, E. A. Harvey,
T. B. Aldridge, James Holmes,
T. J. Moore, Eli Warren, E. Bell
flower, T. G. Pierce, W. S. Good
man, John Holmes, G. S. Has
lam, Robert Slappey, S. P.
Rumph, At. Paul, E. K. Hodges,
Rev. W. C. Cleveland, James
Felts, Rev. John Humphries, S. P.
Jones, J. L. Parker, Rev. James
Hudson, J. Tooke, T. Perry,
S. B. Pierce, S F. Berry, D. B.
Jones, A. E. Thompson, M. Jenk
ins, Calvin Bryant, J. A. Carr,
Charles Hickman.
T. Downs, John Jones, John
Laidler Jr., John Laidler Sr.,
J. W, Belvin, Dr. W. S. Townsend,
B. Holleman, I. Hand, S. D. Kil
len, A. Lasater, Jesse Cooper,
R. B, Engram, H. J. Engram,
C. F. Patillo and J. H. Durham.
The first record of the land on
which the Masonic building stands
is a deed dated in 1808, from
Timothy Furlow to John Ross,
deeding the lot for a considera
tion of $550. It appeared that the
deed included all of that block
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“except the lot on which was the 1
John G. White blacksmith shop.”
CELEBRATION STAGED
The Houston lodge put on a
big celebration Nov. 6, 1944, on
the 100th birthday of the order.
Officers in 1944 were L. C. Walk
er, worhsipful master; W. G.
Gray, senior warden; Alton Har
dy, junior warden; L. H. Gilbert,
treasurer; E. W. Traylor, sec
retary; Alton Rainey, senior
deacon; A. A. White Sr., junior
deacon, and W. E. Barfield, tyler.
Worshipful masters sine* 1944
include W. G. Gray, 1945; Alton
Hardy, 1946; Alton Rainey, 1947;
Arthur White Sr., 1948 and 1949;
Edward Mason, 1950; and J. A.
Todd, 1951.
Other living past masters of
the lodge are E. W. Traylor, Lee
M. Paul, J. O. Coleman, L. H.
Gilbert, Charles P. Gray, G. W.
Rhodes and E. P. Staples.
The deceased past masters in
clude C. E. Brunson, Eby Holtz
claw, T. M. Furlow, S. D. Killen,
P.B.D.H. Culler, John L. Birch,
C. H. Smth, John B. Smth, John
A. Hafer, J. D. Martn, A. S.
Gles, J. C. Bruton, J. B. Edge,
C. E. Gilbert, AL C. Riley, W. C.
Davis, Frederick Bonner and H.
P. Houser.
Started With 7 Members
The Lodge began with seven
members and now has more than
200, the largest membership in
its history.
The Masonic Building in Perry
was dedicated Nov. 17, 1893.
The late C. E. Brunson, who
spoke at the Centennial celebra
tion, served for 19 years as
worshipful master, one of the
longest periods of service for a
master. The late H. T. Gilbert
served as secretary for a long
number of years.
Construction,
Gasoline Firms
Here Are Leaders
There major road construction
companies and four large gaso
line and oil distributors in Perry
and Houston county have de
veloped as a result of Perry’s
strategic highway position and
the foresight and energy of their
proprietors.
Beckham Construction Co. has
long been one of the major earth
moving, road and airport-build
ing firms in the South. E. M.
Beckham is the head man who
has been active for many years
in building up his home commun
ity and all Georgia.
Lawler Construction Co. is
headed by A. H. Lawler and also
is active in large construction
work. Hardy and Stone Con
struction Co., operated by Alton
Hardy and Allen Stone, have
constructed many fish ponds and
other big earth-moving projects.
Large gasoline and oil distrib
utors in Perry are W. E. Beck
ham for Gulf, B. H. Andrew for
Standard, George B. Wells, Am
erican Oil Co. and the Davis Co.,
founded by Mayor Davis and
Dan L. Grant, for Shell Oil Co.
CROFT JONES WAS
SEXTON MANY YEARS
"Uncle Croft” Jones was sexton
of the Perry Baptist Church for
many years and regularly tolled
its old boll—when there weren’t
youngsters around worrying him
to let them pull the rope. When
he died several years ago, the
deacons of the Baptist church I
served as pallbearers and others !
took over his janitorial and bell- 1
ringing duties—until ihe bell was
dispensed with.
HEARD 30 INCHES LONG,
\ VOW AND TRAGEDY
A Houston county resident
named Jerry Christmas made up
his mind in 1861 when his son
went to war that he would not
shave until his return, the Home
Journal reported in 1878, 17 years
later.
"The son was killed and the
father has never shaved since.
His beard is now over 30 inches
long,” reported the Journal.
OLD TIME TWISTS, TURNS
The old Perry-Fort Valley road
must have set osme kind of rec
ord for its curves and the num
ber of times it crossed the branch
line railroad. It is still open
along parts of the old route but
the new Perry-Ft. Valley link is
Georgia Highway No. 7 which is
one of the most heavily traveled
routes in the state.
Perry is in Georgia’s famous
peach belt and ships hundreds of
cars of peaches annually in June
and July.
Barfields On
Same Corner
Many Years
One of the longest records of
continued occupancy of a busi
ness building in Perry is that of
the late E. F. Barfield and his
son, William Barfield, who now
operates the Barfield Furniture
Co. in a newer building next to
the old location.
The old “Barfield Corner”
building, now occupied by Per
ry’s newest business, Beeland’s
Grocery, has since about 1906
housed general stores operated
successively by the late George
W. Winn, Duncan (C. C.) &
Clark, Warren Smith and the
grocery and market owned by the
late J. P. Cooper and Mr. Bar
field, who later operated it on
his own.
The Barfields rented the corner
building continuously for 31
years until William Barfield
moved his furniture store into
the adjoining building about a
month ago.
Frank Cooper, Negro employee
of Barfield Furniture Co., says
that every time any business in
the “Barfield Corner” building
was sold, he went right along
with all the other fixtures. He
started working there for the
late C. C. Duncan and continued
with each business since.
MRS. DUMAS IS LEADER
Mrs. Harry Dumas, of the Cen
terville Home Demonstration
Club in Houston county, is dis
trict home demonstration council
I chairman for all Southwest Geor
gia, including 26 counties whose
delegates unanimously elected
her.
OLD HORSE TRACK
There used to be a famous
horse race track across Houston
Lake Road from the old Dennard
home which burned about two
years ago. It was about a mile
from Perry.
Want ads get results. Try 'em.
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Congratulations
To The
Houston Hfountal j
On Their I
80th Anniversary |
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STATE FAIR
MACON, GA.
OCT. 15th THRU 20th
195 1
JOHN JACKSON WAS THE ONLY ~~~
PERRY BARBER FOR MANY YEARS
A highly respected Negro citi
zen was the only barber in Perry
for many years late in the 1800 s
and for 22 years in the 20th cen
tury. He was the late John M.
Jackson who died Nov. 25, 1922,
at the age of 50, after about 40
years of barbering.
Many Perry citizens were giv
en their first haircut by John
Jackson and they remember his
quiet good humor and patience,
as he groomed youngsters and gay
blades, business men and farm- |
ers in the shop that he operated
at several different locations in
his lifetime.
Stood On Box To Work
He used to recall how he was
taught the barbering business by
Will Russell’s father, old Bill
Russell. John said he was so
small when he started that Bill
Russell had to stand him on a box
to be high enough to work.
After Bill Russell’s death, John
Jackson took over the shop that
was in a wooden building belong
ing to the Caters and located
along where the Massee Furni
ture Co. and Gray’s Service Sta
tion now are. His second place
was a wooden building about
where Gray-Walker Supply Co.
stands on Carroll st., next door
to the present modern barber
shop. Later the shop was in the
old building of the Perry Loan
& Savings Bank which was about
where the Evans Grocery Co. is
now located.
Last Shop Location
The location which most Perry
ans will rememoer was in thr
rear of the first floor of the Ma
sonic building with the entrance
on S. Carroll St. His shop was
there when he died in 1922.
He was born in Perry, Oct. 12,
1872, the son of John M. and
Caroline Jackson. He grew to
young manhood here and ; n 1893
was married to Mary Pierce, the
HOME JOURNAL, PERRY, (
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JOHN M. JACKSON
daughter of Caroline and Mart
Pierce. They had six children.
They are Hattie M. Huggins, New
York; John M. Jackson, Perry;
Lila J. Redmond, Perry; Solo
mon P. Jackson, Perry; and Fan
nie P. Alexander, New York; and
James D. Jackson, Philadelphia,
the last two deceased. His second
marriage was to Carrie Andrews
and they had three sons, of whon.
Andrew Morris Jackson and Hen
ry Jackson of Jamestown, N. Y,,
survive.
FIRST GRIST MILL
The first grist mill in the coun
ty was built by Wm. H. Moore on
Juniper Creek, now called Mule
Creek, near Powersville. It is
said to have operated day and
night without interruption for
six months and people came dis
tances of 30 miles and camped
until they could get their corn
ground.
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GA., THURSDAY, JULY 19, 1951