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COrfederatc Monument at the courhouse square is dedicated on
HI * Ms, y 21, 1908. To the left is a 1935 picture of it in front of the
old courthouse.
■'PECAN MAN"
“BUILDS REP"
NATIONALLY
Cooper Jones is building up a
national reputation as the man
who sells those “Houston County
Pecans” that taste so good.
He has been in the pecan bus
iness on a retail and wholesale
basis for about 15 years and his
business grows each year.
Mr. Jones handles orders for
the same people year after year,
and the same people who drop by
his eight-foot widd pecan shop
one year are very likely to re
turn again the years after as they
travel between their homes and
their favorite vacation spots in
Florida.
He has a book full of addresses
and sends out about 2,500 cards
each year announcing to his old
customers that he’s back in the
same business at the same stand.
He quotes his latest prices and
gives a detailed description of his
offerings for the year.
Also Entertainment
Pecans are not the only prod
uct of the Jones store. He tells
the tourists such wild tales about
this section of the country and
swaps the latest Truman jokes
with them that the information
they obtain in the store is well
worth the price he charges for
the nuts.
They are still talking about the
time two Yankee tourists were
in his place and ,Mr. Jones re
marked casually: “You know,
they ought not to have lynched
those two Negroes a while ago.”
The Yankees pricked up their
ears and wanted to know what
the Negroes had done.
“Oh, they didn’t do much; just
didn’t move over when a white
man went down the street.”
The Yankees were so alarmed
at this statement that Mr. Jones
had to tell them he was just
kidding .... which he does all
the time.
Pioneer Farmer
Still At Robins
Back in 1910, just seven years
after the Wright brothers usher
ed in the air age, a Georgia
youth plowed the endless rows of
cotton on his father’s rented farm
land, some twenty miles south
of Macon.
On occasional mornings, when
relief from chores permitted, the
sixteen year old boy hunted the
wild ducks in the marshy swamp
land at the edge of the cultivated
strip of farm land.
With his dog, he chased rabbits
over the flat terrain, shot squir
rels from the tall pines, and an
swered “Present” when the
teacher called “Jake Parker” at
morning roll call in the little
school house at nearby Wellston.
Jake Parker grew up, followed
his father’s love for woodwork
he had won several prizes at the
state fairs), and sawmilled the
Pines of the farmland. He “batch
ed’’ with his father for a few
years, after burying their wife
and mother behind the two
storied frame farm house.
Jake Got Married
Making lumbering his full time
occupation, Jake married and
moved into a smaller house just
U P the road from the old home
place, walking back down the
road one day to bury his father
in a grave beside his mother’s.
in 1941 a metal fence was
huilt around the farm, and around
many acres adjoining it. The back
ard of Jake and his bride’s first
11 me was smoothed out and cov
ered with cement. Hangars were
■ uilt behind the airstrip, and
■uildings began to dot the for
ner cotton fields. A sign “Rob
ms Air Force Base,” was placed
. 1
Wm
IIIPII
JONES AND FRIENDS
Admiral Oliver
Was Illustrious
Native of County
Houston county has produced
at least one admiral in the U. S.
Navy, as well as the distinguished
Gen. Courtney Hodges, retired,
of the U. S. Army and many oth
er officers.
James H. Oliver, who was di
rector of Navy Intelligence dur
ing World War I and later was
appointed by Pres. Wilson to be
the first governor of the Virgin
Islands, was born on the planta
tion of his maternal grandfather,
Hugh Lawson, in Houston county
on Jan. 15, 1857.
He was the son of Thaddeus
Oliver, at one time solicitor gen
eral of the Chattahoochee Circuit
and the author of “All’s Quiet
Along the Potomac Tonight.” His
mother was Sarah Penelope Law
son.
Attended Naval Academy
Young Oliver attended Wash
ington and Lee University and
the United States Naval Acad
emy, from which he was grad
uated in 1877. He served in ev
ery grade from ensign to rear
admiral. He married Miss Mar
ion Carter of Shirley, Virginia.
It was after World War I that
Pres. Wilson named Admiral
Oliver the first governor of the
Virgin Islands when we took
them over from Denmark.
Lawsons Prominent
The Lawsons are still prom
inent in Perry and Houston coun
ty, Hugh Lawson, an official oi
the Tolleson Lumber Co., being z
city councilman; his brothei
Powers Cooper Lawson being one
of the government's top civilian
business machine technicians a*
Warner Robins Air Base; and sis
ters, Mrs. James P. Duggan, thf
former Mary Lawson, Perry; an
Mrs. W. W. Weddington, the for
mer Katherine Lawson now of
Hawkinsville.
just outside the fence gate.
Today, 41 y r irs later, the cem
etery is still there. So are the
pines. So are the ducks.
So is J. E. “Jake Parker,” lum
berman with nine years civil
service in the Robins Air Force
Base lumberyard.
OLD FOOTBALL FIELD
The front yard of the home of
Mrs. A. M. Anderson Sr., on
Northside Dr., formerly Kitchen
St., was a favorite place for Perry
boys to play football 20 or 25
years ago. The front walk con
stituted the “50-yard line” and
battle raged back and forth
across it.
Oak leaf blister is causing con
siderable damage in Georgia, but
Extension Service foresters be
lieve that there is no oak wilt in
this state at present.
Read the Home Journal
Early Booster
Group In 1885
One of the forerunners of the j
Perry Development Corp., Perry'
Merchants Association and simi
lar trade and civic-boosting or
ganizations in Houston county
was the Perry Board of Statis
tics and Information, organized
Feb. 27, 1885, for the purpose of
advertising Houston county “in a
way that will attract parties in
the north and elsewhere to Perry.
This effort already had a good
precedent in the fact that several
communities in Houston’s earli
est days had been settled by col
onists from Massachusetts and
elsewhere in the new country.
Charter members of the Board
of Statistics and Information, I
each of whom paid $1 as a pri
mary expense fund, were Rev. 1
George T. Stansbury, C. E. Gil-,
bert, W. M. Gordon, F. S. Cater, |
J. W. Clark, R. N. Holtzclaw, I
J. D. Martin, William Brunson,;
T. J. Cater, C. C. Duncan, John i
H. Hodges, J. G. Davis, Dr. M. W. |
Havis, Dr. C. R. Mann, Dr. G. T. |
Miller, E. L. Dennard, C. H.'
Moore, M. T. Davis, Dr. J. B.
Smith. {
Maj. Dudley Jones is now the
active president of the Perry
Merchants Association and Louis
Harper, secretary-treasurer.
-_ ,
Reading Clubs
Forebears of
Modern Library
Perry’s fine public library in
the new courthouse, under the !
supervision of Mrs. J, L. Beavers, j
librarian, and its Wednesday Af
ternoon Book Club of which Mrs. j
George E. Jordan is president, !
had several illustrious predeces-1
sors in the literary field. |
In September 1876 the Reading
Club was organized by the young j
people of Perry, supplanting the,
Glee Club which was a social
group. Officers were R. N. Holtz-1
claw, president; Mrs. Nora Cox,
vice president; Mrs. C. E. Gilbert,
treasurer.
The regular order of meetings ■
consisted of readings, music and
criticism by members appointed |
by the president. A fine of 5<V j
was required of any member who
failed to perform any duty re
quested.
Bought Piano
Perry’s Public Library and,
Reading Club was organized in j
March of 1879, with books, pic-'
tures and other articles donated
by members of a former Houston
Literary Association. After a
year, the club owned SSOO worth
of property, had a cash balance
and voted to purchase a S2BO pi
ano through Edwin Martin who
offered to donate SSO of the price.
Mrs. Lucia King was librarian,
A. S. Giles, president.
Officers elected in 1880 were
Mr. Giles, president; W. M. Gor
don, vice pres.; F. S. Etheridge,
secretary; F. S. Cater, treasurer; i
Directors E. Martin, W. D. Not-,
tingham, R. N. Holtzclaw, Wil- I
liam Kupferman, A. L. Miller, P.
W. Jobson, Miss K. V. Cater, Mrs
J. B. Smith, Mrs. C. R. Davis, and
Mrs. Nora E. Cox, librarian.
ARTESIAN WELL SHOW
The artesian well from which
Perfy gets its healthful, mineral
rich water, down near Big In- 1
dian Creek, was quite an attrac
tion when it was first “brought
in.” Visitors were shown the,
heavy flow of cool, clear water
which came gushing out of the |
large well-pipe.
Cotton insects reduced yields
in Georgia in 1950 by approxi- 1
mately 27 percent, according to
the National Cotton Council. |
Bo Cain And Jinx
Could Lift Car
It was good business to have
two strapping Negroes as em
ployees in a garage back in the
first quarter of a century and no
one know's that better than Cal
vin E.McLendon, who still runs
McLendon Auto Co. here.
He boasted ol the services of
Bo Cain and Jinx Roberts, two
Negroes who weighed about 250
pounds each. This was back
19 YEARS OF DEFERRABLE SERVICE
'WaJ’gxeen Agency
Congratulates The Home Journal
On Its 80th Anniversary
I
1
/
Modern Houston Drug Company
3 Trained, Experienced Pharmacists
To Serve You
i
HOUSTON
J. A. BEDDINGFIELI) . W. W. BOLER
around 1920.
They could put their strength
behind almost anything and
something had to give. Their
muscles seemed to ripple in en
joyment at handling a tough job.
One of their most outstanding
feats was raising completely off
the ground a Model T Ford and
turning it around. One would get
at the front, one at the rear of
the (Model T. At the urging of
Gus McLendon, they would sim
ply pick it up and put it wher-
HOME JOURNAL, PERRY, GA., THURSDAY, JULY 19, 1951
ever it was needed.
Didn’t need a jack around when
you had two strong Negroes like
that around. And if the car
wrecker couldn’t pull out the
mud-bound car, Bo Cain and Jinx
Roberts could bring it out of the
beg.
Land for fruits should be pre
pared very much in the same way
as for any other crop.
FIRST COURT CASE
The first court case called and
tried in Houston county court
was “the State vs. Lewis Han
cock,’ in 1822. A true bill was
found. Kitchen Curl was jury
foreman.
Southern states seed certifica
tion officials will hold an annual
meeting in Atlanta, July 29-31
to discuss ways of bringing uni
formity to their work.