BART OATES

Across the Fence 


By Arvord Abernethy 

Last week the members of the Hamilton County Historical Commission got together and did some planning. One thought came up and that is that we need to get some stories from the few old timers that are left. With that in mind, I drove out and had a long, enjoyable visit with an old neighbor, Bart Oates. Mr. Oates is now 87 years old and is still living on the place in the Providence community where he was born. 

One thing that I had in mind was to see if he had any knowledge of the building of the old Groomer rock house there near him. I learned that his mother was the former Paralee Groomer, one of the John J. Groomer children. Mr. Groome had come to Texas from Missouri as a young man, riding a mule and leading another mule and with the rains of a horse tied to the tail of he second mule. As they can best figure out, Mr. Groomer came to this country between 1840 and 1850. He began acquiring land and at one time had large holdings here. 

Mr. Oates’ mother remembered as a girl of them living there on the place in a log house. The house had puncheon floors and she remembered her mother sending her out to gather broom weeds to make a broom to keep the floor well swept. In case you don’t know what a puncheon floor is: this was before any sawmills were here so they had to take a broad ax and smooth down logs until they were smooth enough for a floor. 

About 1870, Mr. Groomer built what has always been known as the old Groomer house near the Leon River on which later became part of the Hidden Valley Ranch. It is a two story rock house with chimneys at each end and with a basement below. Mr. Oates did not know who the stone mason was who did the rock work on the Groomer house, but he said that Mr. Will Tipple did a lot of rock work in the early days. 

Mr. Oates remembers the terrible flood of the Leon River in April, 1908. The river got about four feet higher than it has ever known to be. The waters got much closer to the Groomer house than they ever thought it could get. The men filled with sand and build a dike around the house for fear that water would fill the basement, the walls might soften and collapse. The women folks and children spent the night at the Tull Durhams who lived where the Dewey Sellers now live. Fortunately the water did not get high enough to get into the basement. This was the flood that washed out the Stephenville Northern Railroad trestle over the Leon. 

Mr. Oates’ father was William W. (Bill) Oates who had come to this country in the early days, and it was here that he met and married Paralee Groomer. 

His grandfather had entered the Civil War, but the need at home became so great, he along with two others deserted and returned to his family in Angelina County in East Texas. He had some farming land there that he would work at night and then stay hidden all day. 

One night some soldiers came looking for him. Since the burning of pine knots was often used in place of candles, Mr. Oates’ grandmother told the men that she would have to go to the wood pile to get some pine knots so they would have a light. As she started out of the house, she threw an old Mother Hubbard dress over her husband and the men thought that two women had gone after the pine knots. While out there, the grandfather told his wife that he would saddle a horse and head out. He knew that the Angelina River was flooded, but he thought that he could cross where there was a buffalo crossing. He rode off into the night and was never heard of again. 

Mr. Oates’ first schooling was at the Gann School; a one room rock building which was on the present David Massingill land. He remembers one cold morning when a young girl, Pearl Lacky, caught her dress afire at the fireplace. She ran screaming out the door, but the teacher, Miss Una Toland, caught her and wrapped a coat around her and put out the fire. It was too late; the burns took the young girl’s life. 

His next schooling was at the Pecan School. The original building that sat on the corner of the McDermitt place which was about a half mile south of the present site. The first of the two rock rooms of the Pecan School was built before Mr. Pates attended there. 

Square dancing was one source of entertainment back in those days. They would sometimes go nearly all night, if the fiddler could hold out. The popular thing to do on Sunday afternoon was to play baseball. Mr. Oates remembers the Blansit and Key boys as being good players from the Pecan community. Things would get pretty rough at some of the games, often ending in a big fight. Things got so bad one time that his dad stopped them from going to the games. 

An unfortunate thing happened to a neighbor in July of 1928, Mr. Bernard Lynch died of acute indigestion. Mr. and Mrs. Oates were living in a house up near the present house. They had two bulldogs that would not bother anyone in the daytime, but would not let anyone come near at night. One night they were awakened by the dogs making an awful fuss. They thought they heard someone screaming above the dog’s barking. He started to slip on his pants, but Mrs. Oates told him that he had better get right on out there, so he ran out in his underwear. He found Mrs. Lynch, but she had a wagon yoke in her hands and was keeping the dogs, off. 

She told Mr. Oates that her husband was deathly sick and that they needed a doctor at once. The only telephone in that part of the country was at the Ondee post office which was in the home of Belle Couch, the postmistress. 

Mr. Oates did not have a horse in the lot, but the Lynches did. She told him where he would find a bridle hanging on the fence and which lot the horse was in. He ran down to the Lynches as quickly as possible and found the bridle and black mare exactly as she said. He jumped on the horse bareback and rode to Ondee where he called Dr. McMordie. 

Dr. McMordie arrived out there about the time Mr. Oates got back, but it was too late, Mr. Lynch passed away before morning. The Lynches had raised a lot of watermelons that year, even having enough to sell a lot in town. Mr. Lynch had come through the melon patch the afternoon before and had eaten a good amount of a hot melon. This was thought to be the cause of his sickness. 

Mrs. Lynch was the former Kate Haile of the Olin community. The Lynches were the parents of two daughters and the third one was born after his passing. Later on she married Mr. Dan Edwards and they both lived out full and happy lives here at Hamilton. 

Mr. Oates has lived a full, and as he said “mostly good” life right here on the soil where he was born.

 Shared by Roy Ables

 ACROSS THE FENCE