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- From:
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2001 7:02 AM
Source: TNWEAKLE-L@rootsweb.com
Subject: [TnWeakle] 1860 GROOMS letter
Bright mentions several Weakley families in this letter. Just in case you
GROOMS researchers don't have this. All the best Charlie
LETTER FROM RED RIVER TX BY BRIGHT MARSHALL GROOMS
to a Daughter & her husband who still resided in Weakley Co., TN.
Published in the Red River County Texas Genealogy Newsletter.
contributed by Mrs. Kathryn Bone Chatfield, 2000 Oak Shadows, Baytown, Tx. 77520
Mill Creek, Texas June 3rd 1860
Dear Son and Daughter,
Through the kind mercies of God I am permitted to take my seat in order to answer yours of 25th of April last which came to hand the last day of the month and found your mother much improved from what she was last year. She has not taken any medicine since here and she and I have been able to go about our business even on until the last few weeks. I have been troubled with a pain in my head and neck something like a cramp in my neck and a deadness in one side of my head and deafness in my left ear. All the connection here are well but your sister Jane (his daughter, who was the wife of James Pope) is very poorly. She has a chill I think every day and a high fever with a troublesome cough. (Jane died 4 Oct 1860). Hoping when this comes to hand it may find you and yours with all the connections and friends enjoying good health. I had just started a letter to M. Deck (Mathias Deck, husband of Bright's daughter Catherine) and you and Washington (W. Reddick, husband of Bright's daughter Susannah) and D. Overton (David O., husband of Bright's daughter Martha) giving you all the news that I thought would interest you but on looking over yours I see the Vaden did not pay you for the trees as he did not get them. You never said but on looking over yours I see that Vaden did not pay you for the trees as he did not get them. You never said why it was he did not get them. In the next place you wrote me that Mathias had an account against me larger than mine. I wish you to share this to him as it is my request that he make out his account each item and the charge and send it to me as I am anxious to see it while here for I did not think if he had anything against me it would have been the proper time to name it and to have taken it out of the note that he gave for the cupboard which he never hinted. I wish to see his charges. You also wrote to me of my Gibson business (Gibson Co., Tenn.) Business and of the trouble you had with old Bodkin. I wish you to attend to his case sure at the next court as I think you have the Old William by the nose. Hold him fast and it may be the mens of deterring others from doing as he has done. And now Sally (Sarah Grooms, wife of Wm. Brown Johnson) hear what Mamma says. Well Wm. Brown and Sally if you were here and had a place opened, you could do well. But you had better stay there. Yet she thinks this the healthiest country and wishes Wm. To come and see us this Fall and look for himself. As to my part I think this the best country that I have ever been in. Sure it is we have been at some trouble to get our supplies but it is enough to stimulate a man to cultivate such land and sell at such prices. And now I say to you without boasting that I could change my place it would be only to improve it. It is just as it should be. Tell George Carter and Mrs. Carter howdy for me. Tell them that although I am surrounded with troubles, trials, an difficulties that I consider myself this far from on my way to that home, my long sought home, where all my trials will be over. Tell them to writ to me and I will answer them. Give my regards to Esq. Cantrell (probably A. P. Cantrell) and to all inquiring friends any of whom I would like to see.
William, I wish you to write to me all about the times there and how you are getting along with Bodkin and whether you have any account from McFarland or not. Do the best you can for my interest. Try to come out as many of you as can and see us this Fall. Same for John Goodwin. Well Franklin and Brown (sons of Sarah Grooms & William Brown Johnson) I tell you boys I have seen Indians of all sorts. And I tell you their skins are red and eyes and hair black, so I do not like them much. But I tell you boys we ketch the fish sometimes. I caught one cat that weighted 53 lbs. And some buffaloes that weighted 22-23 lbs. Well Boys I tell you not I can pile any of the Texas Boys certain, So I can. I now conclude by saying write yourself and tell all to write. I remain your father until death.
William B. Johnson and Sarah Johnson
Bright Grooms
Information from Billy E. Butts (Jan 21, 2000): The Butts, Pope farms were on the line between Red River & Bowie Counties. James Pope's farm was mostly in Bowie County. The Pope Springs Cemetery (where Bright Marshall & Catherine Winders are buried) is on the old James Pope farm. I have the impression that Grooms Lake was north & east of these farms but that was back in the late 30's or early 40's that I was in that area.
From: Tom Johnson tomj02@sprynet.com
Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2003 10:40 PM
Hello Ann, My name is Tom Johnson and I live in Oklahoma City. Bright Marshall and Catherine "Winders" Groom are my g-g-g-grandparents. I read your information on the location of their graves and decided to try and locate them. On Sept. 8, 2003, my wife and I went to Clarksville, Red River County, TX in search of the grave site of Bright Marshall Groom and his wife Catherine "Winders" Groom. I located a Red River County cemetery book at the county courthouse in Clarksville that said they were buried in the Pope Springs Cemetery located on the old James Pope land grant which straddled the Red River and Bowie County line. It described the cemetery as being very overgrown, in very bad condition, and gave the location as about 17 miles east of Clarksville on County Road 114, about 250 yards off to the right (south), in a pasture, under some trees. After about 2 or 3 hours of driving up and down CR114, and talking to numerous locals who had never heard of Pope Springs cemetery, we finally found a man that knew exactly where it was. In fact it was directly across the road from where we met him. I climbed the fence and walked across a very large pasture to a stand of large trees where sure enough, back in a dense undergrowth, I could see small number of grave markers. All were laying on their side, some partially buried in the ground, and I'm sure there were others that were not visible due to the dense undergrowth or because they were covered by soil. As it happened, the first marker I examined was that of Bright Groom. It was a tall slender stone, and was laying on its side, but the inscription was face up and easy to read:
BRIGHT GROOM BORN DEC. 12, 1790 DIED AUG. 5, 1863 The epitaph on the side of the marker reads: "These That We Loved So Long and See No More Is Not Dead But Gone Before"
According the the cemetery book, there is a marker there for Catherine Groom with the same epitaph, but I was unable to find it. It says the death date on her marker is Nov. 18, 1863. Since she died only a few months after Bright, I'm wondering if she may be on the other side of the same marker. It was too large and for me to turn over and I really didn't want to disturb it for fear of damaging it further. The Pope Springs Cemetery is located 2.8 miles west of the Red River and Bowie County line on County Road 114, in Red River County, TX. Grooms Lake is located on private land to the northeast of this area. I just thought you might like to have this info so you can correct the death dates and cemetery name and location. I too, had the year 1862 for their deaths, but the stone clearly indicates it was 1863. Also note, the name on the marker is GROOM not GROOMS. I am attaching a couple of photos of the marker to verify my info.
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1790 - 1863 (72 years)
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