The Cherokeean. (Rusk, Tex.), Vol. 140, No. 46, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 22, 1988 Page: 2 of 24
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PAGETWO-THE CHEROKEEAN OF RUSK, TEXAS-THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22.1988
Opinion/Editorial
T
Celebrating Christmas: not how, but who!
A great debate persists over whether children
should be encouraged to believe in Santa Claus.
Like most controversies, there is merit in the
arguments for both sides. The main issue,
however, is that whatever means we use to
celebrate Christmas, it should not overshadow the
main purpose of the event: to celebrate the birth
of Jesus.
There are those who would argue this point,
noting that some folks who celebrate the holiday
do not embrace the Christian message. Those who
do believe are not selfish enough to deny these
folks the happiness of the holiday. All are
welcomed to share, whatever their ideas about
Christmas. Christians do have a reason to be con-
cerned, however, with efforts to remove the
religious meaning from Christmas and to remake
the holiday into one of earthly revelry.
We can protest the removal of Nativity scenes
from public domain, the suppression of the
Christmas story in public circles, the replacement
of traditional religious carols with secular
ones...but by far the most effective means of
preserving the message and the spirit of Christmas
is to promote it in a traditional sense in our own
hearts, homes and churches. The story of Santa
Claus bearing gifts from the North Pole must be
tempered with a greater emphasis upon the story
of God's great gift to humanity in the form of a
baby born in Bethlehem's stable. The exchanging
of gifts must also be balanced with the giving of gif-
ts—not just to friends and family, but to serve the
needs of others less fortunate.
Without the story behind the holiday, Christmas
can become a season to promote selfishness and
empty entertainment. Children, so easily im-
pressed, may learn to disregard the Christian
meaning of the holiday if they observe their adult
mentors going about the business of the season
without a thought to its true purpose. We have an
obligation to remind ourselves and each other that
Jesus is the real reason for the season. Without
that blessed event nearly two thousand years ago,
there would be no meaning in setting aside a day
called "Christmas."
This week, however you choose to celebrate the
holiday, let's remember whose birthday we are
celebrating. Don't leave Jesus out of the party-He
should be the guest of honor. And make sure He
receives the biggest and best gift. sandy alien
The Cherokeean
USPS 102-520
Texas' Oldest Weekly Newspaper,
Established as the Cherokee Sentinel,
Feb. 27, 1850
Second Cass Postage Paid at Rusk, Texas 75785
Published weekly on Thursday by
E. H. Whitehead Enterprises.
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.POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE
CHEROKEEAN, Box 475, Rusk, Texas 75785
'A
Sandy Allen
This Side of the Fence
While most of our nation's people look forward to the
Christmas holiday with glad anticipation of visiting
family and friends, some may approach the season
with apprehension and sorrow because of their lack of
family and friends with which to fellowship. Those who
have lost loved ones at Christmastime may feel
especially depressed. There is no balm for loneliness-
except friendship. One Christmas wish that I have for
everyone...and that can come true...is that everyone
might have a friend. Friendship is a cure for the
loneliness of the world.
The value of a good friendship is beyond worly ap-
praisal. The poet Lilly said, "0 friendship...whose
comforts in misery are always sweet, whose counsels
in Prosperity are ever fortunate." Plaques which
graced the walls in the humble homes of my childhood
read, "A friend loveth at all times" and "A friend in
need is a friend indeed." Life can never be totally
despairing when you have a friend.
Of course, the best friend one could ever have is He
whose birth we celebrate this week: Jesus Christ. He is
"a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." Apart
from that relationship, a good friend to call on
the phone and to visit is the next best thing. And
everyone can have that, toot
If you don't have a' friend, how can you get one? A
great Proverb says "He that would have a friend must
show himself friendly." Be a friend, then you will make
a friend. What better time than Christmas to make a
move toward friendship? Surely there is something we
can do for someone, something we can say of comfort
and cheer, that will cause a person to want to cultivate
our friendship. Try it...it beats self pity by a long shot!
Who among us does not suffer a problem with
relationships from time to time? Growing up, when I
complained that someone didn't like me, my father
would say: "The best way to get rid of an enemy is to
make him your friend!" He was a living example, too,
for I've seen him make friends of some real grouches.
He had a way of including people and of caring that
folks just couldn't resist. All over the world, folks call
him "friend"...because he has shown himself friendly.
Somewhere, not far away, there is someone who
would like to be your friend. Both of you sit in lonely an-
ticipation that someone will come by or call or write.
But no one does, because they are waiting on you to
make the first move toward friendship. Christmas is a
good time to renew old friendships long forgotten, to
make amends to friends lost through careless words
and deeds, to cultivate new friendships with a genuine
display of kindness. You can do it. Friends are worth
the effort.
Friendship is better than any gift under the tree.
Merry friendships I
Santa Claus owes them
a debt of gratitude
A collector of folk customs and holi-'
day practices attributes our present-
day Santa Claus to the work of three
men:
Washington Irving, who wrote of
the happy rural English Christmas
festivities;
Dr. Clement Moore, whose poem
"The Visit from St. Nicholas" gave
millions of people the idea of a jolly
saint;
And Thomas Nast, the cartoonist
whose plump Santa became the pro-
totype of today's figure.
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Kissin' Kuzzins ...
By Carolyn Ericson
ni
IJÍIB
1614 Redbud Street
Nacogdoches, Texas 75961
Seeking information about my grandparents,
William J. COLLINS and Elizabeth HODGES
COLLINS who migrated to Smith County, Texas from-
the vicinity of Henderson County, Tennessee about
1850. They came to Texas with members of both their
families and brought with them a daughter Elizabeth
Harmon COLLINS, twin sons from his first marriage
to Elizabeth ANDERSON (William S. and Joseph A.)
Elizabeth was the daughter of Gabriel ANDERSON.
Jesse COLLINS was a son who came too. Shortly after
their arrival another daughter was born- Nannie Lou
or Nancy Louisiana.
Elizabeth (HODGES) COLLINS died between 1860 &
1863 as she was on the 1860 Smith Co., Texas census,
but William J. has remarried and fathered a 7 year old
child by the 1870 Census with wife No. 3. Where was
Elizabeth H. COLLINS buried?
William J. died in 1897 in Parker County, Texas.
Elizabeth Harmon married 1860 William S. CAM-
PBELL, but was widowed in 1861. Both are buried in
Parker County, Texas.
Nannie Lou married T. L. BARBOUR and they lived
in West Texas and reared a large family. She died 1949
and is buried at Dublin, Texas. Need the date of death
of Jesse, William S. and Jospeh A. COLLINS. Where
are they buried? Who are the parents of William J.
COLLINS? Can anyone give me any information on
any of these relatives? Will appreciate any clues on
this family.
Lou Hides Miller, 206 Pecan St., Terrell, Texas 75160
Genealogy is where you find it. Look what I found
while browsing through Bedford County, Tennessee
Bible Records, Volume 1 by Helen & Timothy Marsha:
"Smith Bible"
Marriages:
Bennett Smith to Mary S. Vannoy, 28 February 1843
George M. Gaut to Mary Jane Smith, 15 July 1863
Andrew J. Hamilton to Altha Pauline Smith on 29
December 1866
Egbert Vannoy Smith to Mirrousi A. Moore, Decem-
ber 18th,1873
Robert B. Smith married to Eugena Cameron,
February5,1885
Births:
Mary Anne Susan Vannoy born May 31,1832
Joel Vannoy, Jr., Born April 27,1825
Joel Vannoy, Senr. and Mary Reese was married 16
October 1800
Deaths:
Mary Vannoy on 21 November 1835, sick 9 months
Joel Vannoy Sr. on 8 February 1840
Nealy P. Vannoy on 30 March 1842
Camaro Augustus, Sen. died on the 8th of June 1853 of
flux.
Damuel J(arrett) Smith died on the 24 of September
A.D. 1866 of congestion of Bowells.
Altha P. More, nee Smith, on 17 December, died 1896
in San Antonio, Texas
Mary Susan Smith on January 28,1898, 74 yrs, 8 mo
old.
Bennett Smith, Dec. 8th 1904
Altha P. Hamilton, Oct. 1915, Ma dill, Okla.
Mary Jane Gaut, died April 5,1926, age 81 years, 2
mos and 5 days.
Egbert V. Smith, died Jan. 2, 1927, 75 years, 2 mos
and 24 days."
OBITS: (from newspaper clippings):
"Mrs. Mary Susan Smith, wife of Bennet Smith, died
Jan. 28,1898, at an advanced age of 74 years, 7 months
and 28 days. She was born in Bedford County, Tenn.,
May 31, 1823. She moved to Nacogdoches County,
Texas, in 1842, and was married to Bennet Smith Feb.
21,1843. She moved to Hill County in 1869, and settled
near Woodbury, where she resided until her death. Un-
to them were born six children. She leaves a devoted
husband, aged 91, quite a number of grand children,
two sons and two daughters to mourn her loss, namely
Messers. R.B. and E.V. Smith, of this Community,
Mrs. Alta Hamilton of Peoria and Mrs. Jane Gaut of
Smith Co., Texas."
ITEM: "Nov. 11,1904Hillsboro, Texas (Saturday)
"Judge Bennett Smith of Woodbury, ten miles north
of Hillsboro, who is 98 years of age and voted for An-
drew Jackson, was at the polls last Tuesday and voted
for the Democratic Party. Judge Smith as born in Bun-
combe County, N.C., Sept. 25, 1806 and voted for
Jackson in 1824 and has continued to vote the
Democratic Ticket ever since.
"The Judge moved to Texas in 1839, when Texas was
a Republic, and is well acquainted with frontier life.
"He was County Judge of Rusk County four years.
He lived in East Texas thirty-four yean and than
moved to Hill County in 1867 and has resided in the
County ever since. His wife was born in 1823 and died in
1898. The Judge is in the best of health and lively for
one 98 years of age. He is the father of six children.
OBIT: "Judge Bennett Smith
"Died, at 11 o'clock on december 8th, 1904. Judge
Bennett Smith, aged 98, two months and fourteen days.
He was buried at Woodbury by the side of his wife who
died a few years ago.
"Notwithstanding his great age, Judge Smith's
faculties, both mental and physical were all well
preserved till the last.
"Bennett Smith was born in Buncombe County, N.C.,
September 25,1806, where he grew to manhood, from
which place he emigrated to Gerogia where he spent
nine years of his life and from there he came to
Nacogdoches County, in 1839, which County then com-
prised a good portion of Eastern Texas, where he
located was finally organized into Rusk County, and
there he remained 39 years. In 1869, he came to Hill
County and settled near Woodbury where he spent the
last 35 years of his life.
"Bro. Smith was perhaps the oldest Mason in Texas.
He was a member of the Methodist E. Church, South."
Don't you wish you could find such clippings on each
of your ancestors!?!
Can you remember the aroma of
candles burning on the Christmas
tree? If so, you have some precious
memories of a bygone era, the time
of the old-fashioned Christmas.
Most of us have only handed-down
stories to evoke that special bit of
Americana. According to these
reminiscences, here is what Christmas
was like many years ago:
Dashing through the snow in a one-
horse open sleigh was not just a song,
it was a very real experience during
the holiday season, with harness bells
jingling away as you crossed fields
blanketed with snow.
At home, the old wood stove would
be hard at work. Maybe mother would
be making a batch of candy or baking
some of her delicious holiday cookies.
There was wood to be brought in for
the stove and fireplace; that was
brother's job. while sister helped in
the kitchen.
There was the tree a real fir. pine
or spruce tree decorated with
strings of popcorn made from home-
grown corn, apples from the orchard,
and handmade paper cones.
Even shopping was a special treat
in those days; the wood stove in the
local store would give out its warmth
and spices in open bins would give off
their wonderful aroma. On the
counter, there were jars of colored
candies to entice the youngsters.
On Christmas Eve, church bells
would summon the faithful to special
services; or perhaps there would be a
Christmas play performed.
In the morning, there were gifts to
open, gifts that had been fashioned by
hand. There might be a hand-carved
whistle, hand-knit socks, or carefully
embroidered handkerchiefs. Whatever
the gift, you knew it had been made
with love and received it in that spirit.
Later that Christmas Day, the fami-
ly would gather in the kitchen, the big-
gest room in the house, at a long table
burdened with holiday foods. There
would be Christmas turkey or ham or
gtH>se, pies that had been baked the
day before, as well as special holiday
'T*v
i>t....
breads. pond with their ice skates. stamped their feet and shook their
After dinner, the youngsters would At the end of the day, visiting uncles harnesses. And off they would go.
take their sleds to coast down snowy and aunts and cousins would pile into shouting goodnight and "Merry
slopes; or, they might head for the a sleigh or bobsled as the horses Christmas" under'the Christinas stars
TOIVv*-
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The Cherokeean. (Rusk, Tex.), Vol. 140, No. 46, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 22, 1988, newspaper, December 22, 1988; Rusk, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth151883/m1/2/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Singletary Memorial Library.