A First Monday Hack

Old-timer recounts early Trade Days

First Monday grounds in Canton used to home to a real Hack – a hack by the name of Hack Berry.

The nonagenarian First Monday guru now lives in Wills Point, but was always a figure to be seen at Frist Monday.

“As far back as I can remember, I have been involved in First Monday more than anyone else. I was a seller, promoter and everything in between for 58 years at First Monday, In fact, I remember when the best things to find at First Monday were handles,” Mr. Berry said.

In 1933, when Mr. Berry was 8 years old, the handmade handles for shovels and farm equipment was the item sought out by buyers who came from far and wide to see what Trades Days had to offer.

Mr. Berry ended up in Van Zandt County by way of his grandparents, who came from Arkansas in a covered wagon accompanied by eight children.

“Back then, there was not a bridge over any river or body of water. You had to take a ferry. They ended up homesteading in Edgewood and that property is still in my family. In 1966, I developed the Rolling Oaks subdivision in the back corner of the property,” Mr. Berry said.
The 6-foot, 2-inch, deep-voiced man has truly lived his slice of life, as he explained that he had been a “jungle fighter for the Army in World War II” and traveled to places like New Guinea and Japan before coming back to Canton.

“I’ve had a pretty lucrative past, but one thing that has remained solid is that I was a part of First Monday every chance that I got,” he explained. 

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