If you see me during the next few days, don’t be shocked. I look really good. That is I look really good if you don’t count the two big bruises on my chin which resemble a Fu Man Chu mustache. You see, I had some dental work done earlier, and the procedure required some “calf-roping” techniques which resulted in the bruises.
Can you believe it is December? The year 2020 will soon be over. It has been an odd and extremely fast year. Don’t rush this last month.
I ran across some additional family names in the history of the settlement of Harpersville and wanted to include them here in this running narrative of the historic area of Harpersville.
The Texas Enterprise Fund took a hit for lack of transparency in a new research paper from the National Freedom of Information Coalition.
Writing about the pandemic for me is very much like the late-night comics writing about politicians. I feel a little guilty for writing about it so often, but something is always coming up to comment on. Granted, my columns during the last six months or so haven’t been as silly as they were in years before. Wanda June and Leonard haven’t been out much, so I can’t report on them very often. Wanda June has kept him on a tight rein. Probably if Wanda June and I could get together “in private,” I could get some really funny columns.
There appears to be some confusion about who Harpersville was named for. Some sources attribute that to John Hayden Harper, but others claim the distinction is tipped to his brother, James Riley Harper, known as Uncle Riley. Uncle Riley Harper was a known rancher in the Harpersville area and was recorded as fighting in the Mexican War. Pension vouchers paid to him verify that fact. Also, he would visit grandfather Compton every three months to get his voucher notarized. Compton was also one of the early settlers at Harpersville and the Battle Creek and Sandy Creek areas.
Rural Texans have a lot to say about the lack of broadband service in their communities. Since we covered the topic earlier this month, many readers have emailed to share their stories and pleas for help.
Most of the people who read my column aren’t from Missouri, the Show-me State, but they are from Texas where we pride ourselves on an intelligent refusal to be bullied into anything. We don’t like to be told what to wear, to eat, to watch, or to support. Back in the day we didn’t like being required to buy liability insurance for our cars, and many really balked back in the 1960s when we had to have seatbelts installed in our cars. We are a tough bunch of people who, because we live in God’s Country, are pretty sure we know what’s best for us.
Many of us are either glued to the television set or internet to find out who is, in fact, president of the United States. Judging from the polls, the national mainstream media initially thought there was going to be a blue wave. Those who voted for Trump in 2016 thought it was going to be a landslide from a man who kept his promises. In either case, according to the election ballots, 50% of all Americans will ei ther be heartbroken, disappointed, or some angry enough to the point of generating more hate and destruction. In spite of that, we all have a choice to make, to live by, and more importantly, to be a true American. What does that mean and where do we go from here? Let’s start by answering the second question.
The old General Store in Harpersville eventually became a barn on land once owned by W.D. Gentry. A relative, Mr. Gilbert Gentry, had owned and operated the General Store for years and his daughter, Anna Gentry, began the first telephone exchange from their home in the early 1900s. There was a phone line strung along the fence row into Breckenridge. She had as many as 10 customers on one party line and maintained several party lines like that in the community. One might say that Anna Gentry was the first switchboard operator before there was any formal phone service to that area of the county.
