OLD MAN GROOMER

That he always liked Old Man Groomer (W. W. Groomer) He was a good man. He came from an old state he thought, but didn’t remember which. (My information is he came from Virginia, and here by way of the Gold Rush to California).  Mr. Williams said he bought a lot of his cattle. Would have to take them when he could. They were still unimproved long horns but better than most because he fed them in winter.

He told again the incident when he took Miss Anna Bell down to the Groomer place. They had a good dinner there. On a big white platter were about two dozen fried eggs, big pieces of real ham, big sweet potatoes. They were not the yams we have now. They didn’t have improved yams then, nor were they the old "nigger potatoes." But they were pretty good sweet potatoes with gravy poured over them.

An unfortunate incident occurred just after dinner. Miss Anna remained in the kitchen to assist Mrs. Groomer with the dishes, while Mr. Williams and Mr. Groomer sat on the front porch. Mr. Groomer usually just wore an old dress when around the place. He was sitting in an old time rocking chair or perhaps cane chair with leather straps for the bottom. An old tomcat under the chair reached up and got a claw full of his privates. Mr. Groomer jumped up, gave the cat a kick with his bare foot that sent the animal out in the yard. But this hurt his foot, and he was holding it. Mr. Williams could not refrain from laughing out loud. The old man said, "I don’t see anything so ... funny about it!"

Old Man Groomer was "eccentric" but a good man and he liked him. If you went to his house nobody could make you feel more comfortable than could Old Man Groomer. He was very hospitable. His kitchen was back in an ell of the old house. Groomer came there early.

(I did not know Mr. Groomer but remember when he died. My father used to say that "Anybody with any Groomer blood in his veins is a friend of mine." This was going pretty far. The old house was a two-story rock structure. It was built, I am sure, by the old-time contractor Eli Terry, brother of the sheriff Sam Terry. At the time this is written Johnnie Harris and Frances live there. It is on the flats some way from the river. When Mr. Groomer came back from the Gold Rush he bored holes int he hubs of the wagon wheels and placed big gold coins in the holes, to hide the gold. As told to Ted and me by Old Man John Shipman. My Uncle Tom Roddy told of his experience down there when trail-driving cattle under Old Man B. F. Moore, of Sloneker Springs. The cattle has been said were wild. Someone suggested that --Gann had dogs and that they summon him to help drive the animals out of the bush. The Old Man said, "Gann has horses. Gann has dogs. But I don’t want him in my pasture!")

(See the Captain Saxon story about the time he wanted to stay all night with Groomer, and the old man told him the "sun was an hour high" and that he could make it to town. He got back on his horse and asked the old man how you go to John Couch’s, his son-in-law. The old man said, "Don’t go!"

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