Responses about communities
John E. Peterson
Originally published 01:54 p.m., February 7, 2008
Updated 01:54 p.m., February 7, 2008
The subject of old communities in our area is of interest to many of us. You know it is to me because I have written several of these columns about communities. That, in turn, stimulated some of you to tell me things about communities. You have given me much information about communities in the past and, of course, I told others about them via these columns. I would tell you about a couple more of these responses, if I had my way.
Some of the responses to these columns go to The Gazette office. Others come to me by phone, mail or voice. Mr. Derald Clinton of Cottonwood brought a note to The Gazette office. They sent it on to me.
Derald’s note listed some old communities, which had post offices, back about 1900. I called him and got a bit more information. Let me name the places for you, though I cannot tell you much about them. Can any of you tell me more about them?
Birley was about two miles west of Matfield Green. It was something of a cattle center. Richards was five or six miles south of Matfield Green. A post office called Rural was a bit north and west of Matfield Green. Thurman was another community with a post office. So was a place called Morgan.
Mr. Clinton got much of his information off the Internet. If you are interested in more about these early communities, you could go to the Internet, too. You would do that, if I had my way.
A few days after The Gazette sent me that note from Derald Clinton, they sent me one from Norman Morray. Norman’s note said, “When I was 12 years old in 1938, I had an abscess on my left knee. They took me to a doctor named Hoove in Saffordville.”
Imagine that! Saffordville even had a doctor. I called Mr. Morray and got a bit more information. He lived in Plymouth at that time and Plymouth was quite a community then. It had things it no longer has. He now lives a couple of miles out of Emporia on US-50.
Thank you, Derald and Norman. I am pleased that you enjoy reading my trivial columns and even more pleased that you would give me interesting information. Even more people would do that, if I had my way.
About two weeks after that column I wrote about Saffordville appeared way back in October of 2007, Janett Eidman came to me at a Retired Teachers meeting. She thanked me for writing about Saffordville. She had lived there, she told me. She was pleased to see something about lovely little towns like Saffordville in the paper.
Thank you, Janett, for your kind comments. I, too, like to see more attention given to our small communities. Too many of them are fading out these days.
Though I stated in the headline that this column would be about communities, I shall have to finish it with some responses about other things. That is because I have run out of items about communities. As I have said before, I am a nut about small communities, but, as I have said before, I have just run out of information about them. You people would help me get community information, if I had my way.
I must tell you that I was thrilled when I read one of Cheryl Unruh’s columns back in September. She wrote about having sweet potato fries in Yates Center. Then she said that sweet potato fries should be on every menu and “(borrowing John Peterson’s line), they would be, if I had my way.” It is a thrill to have my name and my words appear in someone else’s writing! Thank you, Cheryl!
Another marvelous response for my ego. I had sent a check to the Salvation Army, as I do periodically. A few days later, a letter arrived with a receipt and information about the Salvation Army activities in it. There was also a note from Naomi Nichols in it. The note said, “Just can’t resist telling you that: You will continue to those wonderful columns about your trips in the area and the wonderful places you have found to enjoy good food, IF I HAVE MY WAY!!!”
Wow! I certainly liked that response. It was a great ego trip for me! I do hope that I can continue taking such trips and doing my columns. I much enjoy doing them and I enjoy having you lovely people enjoying them. Unfortunately, however, as we get older, it gets tougher and tougher to make such trips. Thank you, Naomi, thank you much!
There, then, you have some of your wonderful responses to my ramblings. Keep them coming. You would, if I had my way.
jibberish66 (anonymous) says...
I had relatives that lived and caught the train at Root Station, down by Madison/Virgil.
February 7, 2008 at 9:29 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )