Bosque County: Land and People (A History of Bosque County, Texas) Page: 29
801 p. : ill., ports. ; 32 cm.View a full description of this book.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
sufficiently scared, she laughed and said,
"April Fool!"
Pupils at the Cooper School carried their
lunch in syrup buckets or wrapped in newspa-
per. Very often they would trade sandwiches,
cake, and cookies.
Many funny and unusual things happened
at this country school that make fond
memories for those who attended as pupils or
who taught there. Perhaps this review will
bring pleasure and evoke such memories for
some. This form of education is long gone but
it had its advantages and can be appreciated.
by Mrs. L.G. CarlsonHARMONY
a
/C
Air
preachers. People of this community can
remember the many good times held at the
Harmony School such as covered-dish din-
ners held on the last day of school each year.
Oh, for good food! Mrs. Ole J. (Alma) Hoel,
Sr. and her white coconut cake, Paul Seedig
bringing dishpans of radishes, fried chicken,
homemade breads and everything else good
make happy memories! The food was served
on long tables out-of-doors. When election
year rolled around, candidates running for
election came to Harmony for dinner and
each one made a speech during the afternoon.
Then, that night there would be a play.
People came from far and near.
People of the Harmony community still
use the Gatesville-Meridian Creek Crossing,
crossing Meridian Creek from Gatesville to
Meridian, from courthouse to courthouse. It
was marked by the old plow furrow, now on
the Steve Robertson place. In the early
1900's, people gathered there to wash their
clothes by hand on rub-board rocks and
plenty of swift water. Uf-da! Meridian Creek
is now drier than natives have ever known it
to be. A real drought through this region this
year, 1984!
In the Harmony area Meridian Creek,
Spring Creek, and Bee Creek all run into the
Bosque River beyond Highway 6. On the
mountain joining Meridian Creek is a big Bee
Rock facing FM 2136, about three miles west
of Highway 6. A mysterious thing happened,
Sunday, February 12, 1978, at 2:40 p.m. AOrin L. Lund taking cotton to I.M. Solberg gin in
Clifton, 19491926, T.W. Anderson home
The Harmony community is located an
equal distance from Clifton, Meridian, and
Cranfills Gap in west central Bosque County.
It got its name "Harmony" when a group
of parents were deciding on a name for the
school. In 1890, the one-room schoolhouse
was built; it was located near a spring on a
two-acre lot donated by O.P. Carlson. The
lumber was bought at Morgan and six
farmers hauled it by wagons and team. The
lumber was paid for by donations and all the
work was freely given. The first teacher was
J.W. McMinn. In 1923 this building was
made into a two-room schoolhouse and two
teachers were employed. In 1939, this school
came to an end with some of the children
going to Cranfills Gap and others to Clifton
and Meridian schools.
From the Harmony school came good
farmers, wives, professors, doctors, teachers,
carpenters, lawyers, business men, andSite of Ole Nystel's capture (1867), on Bryan
Erickson Farmloud blast was heard and dirt shot high into
the air. Billy Joe Anz, Sr. was feeding his
cattle nearby; he looked up and this is what
he saw. The whole left end of Bee Rock came
rolling down, bulldozing everything in its
path. It was a beautiful Bee Rock, but now
holds this mark on it.
In the 1920's to the 1940's, corn, wheat,
oats, barley, millet, maize, and cotton were
the main crops. They were also raising cattle,
hogs, sheep, goats, turkeys, chickens, horses,
and mules. Now the community has cattle,
sheep, goats, some hogs and turkeys, and they
raise wheat, oats, corn, maize, and sudan for
baling hay.
In the past, grain was threshed by thresh-
ers run by a big wood-burning stream engine.
The engine was run by Alex Anderson. The
grain threshed out was sacked and straw was
blown into big straw stacks. There was a
hard-working bunch of men with a wagon and
team. A cookshack followed with two women
cooks. This shack was set up at each stop that
the thresher made to serve three good meals
and a lunch morning and afternoon. Great
Aunt Mollie Anderson cooked for many years
and Leone (Seedig) Farr, sister of this writer,
cooked one year. Orin Lund, the writer's
husband, worked with the bunch. For years
now, tractors, combines, mowers, and balers
have been doing the work.
The Harmony community now is known
for deer, wild turkeys, quail, doves, and good
fishing. Oh, yes, we also have snakes-rattlers,
cottonmouth moccasins, and copperheads;
scorpions, redbugs, grasshoppers, and other
insects.
Many Harmony residents can remember
that the farmers had a dipping vat south of
Gatesville crossing (part of it still remains)
where they herded their cattle to run them
through. It was filled with water with tick
killer or creosote dip in it. They did this ever
so often to control ticks.
Indians used to roam the Harmony com-
munity. On what is now Mrs. Bryan
Erickson's farm, Ole T. Nystel was captured
in 1867. (See Ole T. Nystel family story). A
marker has been placed at this site by the
Erickson family, (1983). These Indians stole
horses and other things and even killed
people.
The Harmony community was once made
up mostly of Norwegians and Germans.
Many of them went to Our Savior's Lutheran
Church (built 1869) across Gatesville Cross-
ing to the Norse community. Once a month,
Pastor J.K. Rystad would come to the
Harmony schoolhouse and conduct Norwe-
gian services. He would come in a buggy or
a surrey drawn by two horses. When cars
came along in the 1920's, people could go to
the church instead of meeting in the school-
house. Every summer, Bible School was held
in this schoolhouse. Now, for years, Bible
School has been and is still held at Our
Savior's Lutheran Church Parish Hall at
Norse. Now there are many nationalities and
religions in this community. Through the
years, favorite entertainments were PTA
(Booster Club at Harmony), box suppers,
basketball, campouts, fish fries, parties,
dances, swimming, croquet, and all kinds of
kid games.
Roads in Harmony are getting better all
the time. The FM Road 2136 from Highway
6 to Highway 22 was developing in 1948 on
through 1955. It was paved, what improv-
ement! In the 1920's, one could hardly travel
29.
.. ..,
=w , ,';
.
t , .
,
Ems'
F , .-;
, :_., y ..
:.." .d
. _. ,-.
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This book can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Matching Search Results
View 28 pages within this book that match your search.Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Book.
Bosque County History Book Committee. Bosque County: Land and People (A History of Bosque County, Texas), book, 1985; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth91038/m1/45/?q=campbell: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Denton Public Library.