This Week in Canton History

Van Zandt County Genealogy & Local History Library

250 E. Groves St. Suite 2

Canton, TX. 75103

CANTON HERALD: April 12, 1962- Stewart Insurance Agency in Grand Saline was robbed Monday night about 8:15 o’clock while its owner, Floyd Stewart was working in his office. The would-be burglars broke into the back of the building not knowing that anyone was working in the front. Upon finding Mr. Stewart and his secretary working, they pulled their guns, and proceeded to take about $55 out of the cash register and took $20 from Mr. Stewart. Another man was in the office at the time of the robbery. The suspects were recognized by the victims while in the process of the armed robbery.

There had been no arrest Wednesday the County authorities report that traps have been set for the two participants. One is a known Grand Saline man and the other is thought to be from Dallas.

Details of the robbery were incomplete, but County authorities expect arrest in the near future.

The city of Canton is publishing its financial statement in this issue of the Herald… Judging from the statement, the old town is in good financial shape… Receipts for the year totaled $104,110.23 while expenditures were only $57,058.84… And the expenditure included a huge sum of expansion of water and sewer lines within the city.

Among the 16 names released by East Texas State College for faculty members who appear in the 1962 Whose Who in American education is the pastor of the Jackson Baptist Church, Rev. Orland (Jack) Wages.

Rev. Wages is a member of the staff of the college library and instructor in the department of library science. Another responsibility is the counseling of all undergraduate library science majors.

CRADLE ROLE -Mr. and Mrs. Clois Perkins announce the arrival of a son Kevin Neal, April 5 in Tyler. He weighed 7 lbs. 12 oz. Grandparents are Mr. and Mrs. C. Perkins and Mr. and Mrs. Ewell Tidwell.

Services were held at 10 p.m. Wednesday at the Hilliard Funeral Chapel in Van for Mrs. Lydia Steel of Route 1, Ben Wheeler, who died Tuesday, she was 83. Rev. Frank Everett, Methodist Minister and Rev. John Van ____ Baptist minister officiating. Interment was in the Colfax Cemetery under direction of Hilliard & Sons Funeral Home.

William Oscar James, 86 died Thursday at a rest home in Sulfur Springs. Services were held Saturday at the Creagleville Methodist Church with Rev. Ed Barrett and Rev. A. L. Cates officiating. Interment was Creagleville Cemetery under the direction of Hilliard & Sons Funeral Home. Mr. James was born in Birmingham, Miss., August 8, 1875. He moved to Grand Saline where he spent most of his life. He was a retired farmer and was a member of the Baptist Church.

Mrs. William S. Hallman, 77 died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Alvin Howell, Monday. Funeral services were held at the Holly Springs Methodist church Tuesday with Rev. Frank Everett and Rev. Milton Johnson officiating.

Interment was in the Holly Springs Cemetery, Hilliard & Sons Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements. Mrs. Hallman had been a member of the Holly Springs Methodist Church since childhood. She was born in Erath County and moved to Holly Springs community at the age of 10.

Men and Women In Service: Fort Bliss-Pvt. Daniell L. Ayers, son of Mr. and Mrs. Daniell J. Ayers, Route 3, Canton is receiving individual Hawk guided missile training at The Air Defense Training Center, Fort Bliss. The training is scheduled to end March 31. Ayres is being trained in the duties and responsibilities of a missile crewman.

The Hawk is designed for use against low-flying supersonic enemy aircraft. It has destroyed targets at tree-top level. Ayers entered the Army last July. The 23-year-old soldier attended Canton High School and was employed by Mohr Chevrolet Company, Dallas before entering the Army.

Texas farm families repaid $39,146,268 in principal and interest on U. S. Farmers Home and Administration loans last year. L. J. Cappleman, the agency’s State Director, announced in Temple today. This was 19.9% above collections of the previous year in the state. A total of 3,078 Texas families completely repaid their loans in 1961.

The rain Wednesday, Thursday and Friday was welcome. Not much fail, but the cloudy days with this small amount does help. It seems we cannot get crops planted as early in the spring as we used to, but there is a reason. There is no use planning corn until the soil temperature gets up to 60°. Sweet potatoes will chill if the temperature is below 55° when set in the field.

There are some who plant early taking a chance they will escape heavy rains and late freezes. Like the freeze we had Monday, April 2. Farmers have reported that tomato plants in the field were heavily damaged. These plants were set with a transplant or. They were brought in from South Texas. Tomato plants in the cold frame were not damaged. There were no plants in the field that had been raised in the cold frame.

Judging of the 3 communities that were in the Texas community Improvement Program was done April 3 and 4. The communities in the program were Board-Elwood, Sand Flat and Myrtle Springs. A tour was made of each community and committee reports were given to summarize the years work. It is during this tour and program that people in the community get an idea of the tremendous amount of work that has been done during the past year. It is the time also when the people themselves single out individuals who have taken the lead in the community improvement program. These people are praised for their work and leadership

Following is a partial list of those folks who received thanks from their neighbors:

Board-Elwood: Grady Hindman, chairman of the community program: Robert Scott, Vice Chairman; and Mrs. Jack Johnson, Secretary just a minute I will be. A lot of work such as gathering individual family reports and compiling a record of accomplishments always falls on the secretary Mrs. Johnson. Mrs. Hindman and others carried more than their share in this job

In Sand Flatt: Henry Kirby, chairman was given praise and applause by the people for his interest and untiring efforts for the benefit of Sand Flat. His wife, Mrs. Henry Kirby, secretary, did a wonderful job in keeping records gathering reports and outlining the tour, and program for the judging. Wayne Blakely, vice president, was given recognition and thanks for his work. One of the favorites in this community is Mrs. Genie Dockery. Mrs. Dockery is one of the senior citizens of Sand Flat. When you stop and consider the amount of work she does it makes you wonder where does she get all that energy? Here is a partial list of Mrs. Dockery’s activities: with Mr. Dockery, they are custodians of the church and cemetery; active in all community activities; reporter for the Grand Saline Sun from Sand Flatt, Sunday school teacher, assist in vacation Bible school, works in a café in Grand Saline. She does all this plus all the homework. Wow! Mrs. Dockery didn’t mention her hobby-it must be work.

In Myrtle Springs B. R. Mullins, chairman receive some deserving thanks for his work. Mrs. D. O. Little, secretary did according to Mr. Mullins, more than any other person in the Improvement Program this past year. Mrs. Little has shown terrific interest in the little community. She wrote news articles almost every week about her community. She was active in planting shrubbery in the cemetery, community clean up and fix up. She is a very active secretary. In summary you can say community improvement is hard work but enjoyable work and it shows.

These articles have been extracted from the Canton Herald and may be viewed at the Van Zandt County Genealogy & Local History Library at the Courthouse Annex.