Carol C Taylor Blog

Patent Medicines

Posted on March 14, 2015 by admin

An advertising card for Jamaica Ginger Cordial, early 1900s, from vernacularshellac.files.wordpress.

Last week I wrote about home remedies and received wonderful comments about those days prior to World War II when vaccines were not available as a deterrent to dangerous, contagious diseases. This week we are going to examine a commonplace subject that often had more disastrous effects, especially when used on children.

Patent medicines and home remedies go hand in hand. Wikipedia defines patent medicines as compounds promoted and sold as medical cures that do not necessarily work as promoted. The name itself is a misnomer; patent medicines held no patent from the U. S. Patent Office but the name might be trademarked. Patent medicines are older than the United States. The concept began in Europe in the late 17th century when rulers commissioned so-called “alchemists” to create a cure for a certain medical problem.

Some of the patent medicines used in the 19th century are still on the market, but altered to pass FDA standards. An example is Lydia Pinkham’s Herb Medicine for Women that is still sold in some drugstores. In the era before the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, patent medicines could, and often did, contain opium, cocaine, alcohol, cannabis, and laudanum. All were used during the Civil War and only gradually did the addictive character of such ingredients become aware to the public. Sometimes, the drugs were sold as cough remedies or supplements for children with disastrous results.

During the 19th century patent medicines could be purchased in grocery/drug stores or from a traveling medicine show. Traveling Medicine Shows sold out of the back of their wagon. Handbills announced the coming of a particular show. There was usually a free show, maybe free medical consultation, and then the sale. The goods sold by Medicine Shows were usually homemade, sometimes in the back of the wagon. I hate to admit it but Cher’s “Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves” has biased my opinion of traveling medicine shows.

The grocery or drug store usually had a wider variety of goods that were regionally or nationally distributed and used. Newspapers ran extensive ads touting the healing qualities of various potions. The names were fantastic. Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company featured a Native Americans on the label and purported to contain secret ingredients from the Kickapoo tribe. Ironically, the medicine was made in Connecticut while the tribe resided in Indian Territory.

One that was frequently sold in North Texas was Jamaica Ginger. With the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Prohibition movements in Texas, dealers selling Jamaica Ginger often found themselves in court with a fine for selling illegal alcohol. During federal Prohibition in the 1920s, the makers of Jamaica Ginger added a special ingredient tricresyl phosphate that changed it to a legal patent medicine. However, that secret ingredient caused chronic nerve damage leading to paralysis. Too much Jamaica Ginger led to a condition known as Jake-Leg and often death.

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Home Remedies

Posted on March 1, 2015 by admin

Asphedity or acifidity bags contained various herbs and pungent substances and smelled terrible. Photo courtesy of Dave’s Garden.

Before I started to school, I had the measles. My maternal grandmother was the daughter of a doctor. Mother called Mom to come visit. She came to stay for a few days, made sure I was in bed the whole time, and told Mother to keep the room dark. It was believed, and may be true, that measles could affect the eyes. That meant I couldn’t do some of my favorite things, reading and playing with paper dolls. For me it was a miserable experience but not dangerous, just boring.

Both grandmothers had a wide range of home remedies. There were salves you rubbed on your chest if you had a cold, but the two grandmothers didn’t agree on the brand. There was some horrible cough syrup that was black and made me gag. That’s when I learned peppermints work just as well. Baby aspirin was put in a spoonful of water and dissolved before swallowing. I still hate to take pills.

Why did we not go to the doctor for a prescription or a shot? Simply because doctors and medicines cost money in the time before medical insurance. And money was scarce in that time and place. Or maybe it was because these old remedies had worked so well in the past; so why change?

At that time, polio was a great threat. It was rumored that it spread in swimming pools. That was ok; Jacksboro had no swimming pool. But everyone had measles, mumps, and chicken pox. There were vaccinations for small pox and whopping cough, though. Sometimes they left a big round scar on your upper left arm.

My mother’s family lived on a cattle ranch seven miles west of Archer City. The three children rode a primitive school bus to a school about ten miles further west. My Uncle Jeff Seay told me once about some other children on the bus who wore asphedity bags pinned to their undergarments. Asphedity or acifidity bags contained various herbs and pungent substances such as ginseng, pokeweed, and yellow root. These protected the wearer from catching colds, flu, and other ailments bred in close conditions. Uncle Jeff said they really kept everybody else away from the wearer. The smell was nauseous.

My favorite home remedy was the Madstone. I have actually never seen one or met anyone who used it successfully. But folk medicine lore is full of annotations referring to the madstone. It was a fossilized gallstone from a deer, preferably a white one. When a mad dog, or other rabid animal, bit a person, someone ran to get the madstone. It was soaked in warm raw milk, placed on the wound, and soon it absorbed part of the poison. When the madstone turned black, it was removed, cleaned with hot water, and the process began again. Sometimes the applications lasted for several days. But old-timers swore by the method.

Asphedity worked because it kept anyone with a contagious disease away. Madstones worked, not because they were fossilized gallstones, but because warm, raw milk will draw out poisons. The fumes from eucalyptus leaves found in various chest rubs open up nasal passages. Cheap, maybe, but who wants to go around stinking all the time?

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Military Records of the Great War

Posted on February 24, 2015 by admin

Carol’s grandfather, I. G. Coley, in the center with two of his buddies. This was probably taken during training at Camp Travis in San Antonio, Texas or in New York prior to debarkation. The men left the U. S. in June 1918 and returned to the United States one year and one day later.

Last weekend I made a presentation to the East Texas Genealogy Society in Tyler. It was the second of a series on World War I. This one is called Military Records for the Great War. Believe me, thousands, if not millions, of records exist.

Most military units have associations for former members, similar to the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) during the Civil War. My interest lies in Company C, 315th Engineers, 90th Division. At the end of the Great War, the War Department required the captain of each company to write a summary of their duties and experiences during the war. Since Company C lost their captain toward the end of fighting, I had to rely on the report for Company A.

The actions of the two groups were not identical but very similar. The report began when they arrived at Camp Travis in San Antonio for training. Engineers received both infantry and engineering training. Troop trains leaving San Antonio for the East Coast zigzagged around the country on the way to New Jersey. Why I don’t know, but German submarines were lying in wait off the East Coast, particularly around Nantucket Island.

The trip across the Atlantic was uneventful since the troops enjoyed a fine British ocean liner cruise. The transportation from Liverpool to La Havre in France was more traumatic with choppy seas on a much smaller ship. Once ashore, American troops were treated with food, flowers, kisses, and wines. France knew the war would soon be over with Americans to break the stalemate in the trenches.

I was particularly interested in what duties member of the 315th Engineers did during the war. My grandfather was a corporal in Company C. He often told me about his experiences after the war, but never mention the time before November 11, 1918.

Engineers were tasked with building or repairing roads, laying or cutting through barbed wire, and scavenging through materials left behind by the retreating German Army. Some of the items were rigged to explode when a Yank picked them up, such as a shiny new fountain pen that killed a private. Engineers built shelters and set up camp kitchens. They were the carpenters and road builders of the army.

Since engineers were trained for combat, they carried a rifle and gas mask. At the end of the war, a gas mask was in use much of the time. But because they weren’t required to go over the top (climb out of the trenches and charge the enemy), engineers had a much smaller death rate.

No one escaped the mud and rain and cold. Most of the men in the 90th Division came from Texas and Oklahoma. While it gets cold in the Texas panhandle and most of Oklahoma, those spots seldom see heavy snow in October.

By 1918, much of the war was fought with artillery. As “latrine rumors” or gossip spread through the armies that the end was in sight, every artillery battery on both sides of No Man’s Land wanted to claim to have fire the last round. The report I read stated that the last round was fired at 10:59 on the morning of November 11. The truce began at eleven o’clock on the eleventh morning of the eleventh month. It suddenly seemed so very quiet. By afternoon birds began to sing. But the Americans, French, British and Belgians continued to chase the enemy into Germany. American forces served in the Army of Occupation in Germany until 1925.

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From a Simple Question to an Interesting Search

Posted on February 23, 2015 by admin

Texas Land Survey Maps for Hunt County by Gregory A. Boyd, J. D., is a good resource for old land records.

It all began with a simple question. Why did Rhoda sell eighty acres of her husband’s 320-acre homestead in 1864 when he was still living and supposedly without his consent? Perhaps it was because Texas is a community property state. Any inheritance a spouse receives from a parent is that spouse’s property. But to be on the safe side, it was necessary to start with the sale of land, work back to find a marriage, and forward to find the approximate death date of Rhoda. In the search, an extremely interesting story unraveled.

The first place to look was at the husband’s so-called homestead that was really a 3rd Class Fannin District Land Certificate. The Republic of Texas gave certificates for land to families or single men who were in the Republic before statehood. A third class certificate indicated that the family was here between October 1, 1837 and January 1, 1840 and was eligible for 640 acres. However, the 640 acres could be broken up and claimed at various places. Unfortunately, the Texas General Land Office that is doing such a great job digitizing all the original land certificates has not scanned Fannin District yet. But by using Texas Land Survey Maps for Hunt County by Gregory A. Boyd, J. D., it was able to locate Abstract #471 for Rhoda and her husband in Hunt County. It was only 160 acres located northeast of the confluence of Honey Creek and South Sulphur River.

The next step was to determine where the land that Rhoda sold in 1864 to V. Turner was located. It was not located in her husband’s survey but in the J. P. Wood survey located about nine miles south of Abstract # 471. Now to find the marriage records for Rhoda and her husband.

Ancestry.com has marriage record indexes available on line. Rhoda’s maiden name was Keith; she married in Alabama in 1835 and gradually made her way with her family to Hunt County by 1859. The couple had six children in the home at South Sulphur Post Office on the 1860 census. On the previous 1850 census the family resided in Titus County with other Keith families. In the 1880 census the husband, then a widower was living next to his son in Eastland County where many of the Keith family members moved to after the Civil War.

A brief search on Fold3.com, found the Confederate Military Records for Rhoda’s husband. At age 48 he rode to Ladonia to enlist in the Third Texas Cavalry on June 13, 1861. At that time most Southerners felt they could whip the Yankees by Christmas so enlistments were only for one year. The regiment crossed the Red River to recruit Native Americans for the Confederacy, was on hand but did not participate in the Battle of Elkhorn Tavern, and later was transferred to Mississippi under General Van Dorn. On July 22, 1862 Rhoda’s husband was discharged under the Conscript Act of 1862. He was too old to serve. But his discharge papers revealed that he was born in Wilkes County, Georgia. His physical description included his height, hair color, and complexion. He was given $65.00 travel allowance to return to Ladonia.

The answer to the simple question was, yes. Rhoda had the right that she asserted to sell property she had inherited. But there was definitely more to the story.

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The Boar’s Head

Posted on January 11, 2015 by admin

Bringing in the Boar’s Head, which was the first dish served at ceremonial meals at Christmastime in England as early as 1170.

At Christmastide in 1340 England, a young scholar named John Copcot strolled through Shotover Forest on his way to St. Giles Church in the village of Horspath from Queen’s College in Oxford in order to attend Christmas Mass. As he strolled he perused his studies of the Greek philosopher Aristotle. Suddenly he looked up to see a wild boar running to attack him. Its mouth was open wide, with bristling sharp teeth and enormous tusk. Intuitively young Copcot shoved his metal bound volume into the open jaws of the beast, literally choking the animal to death. Then nonchalantly, the scholar severed the head of the beast, stuck it to the tip of his spear, and continued on to church. Once there, he left the spear and boar’s head at the door, entered the sanctuary and participated in the Christmas mass. Afterwards, he picked up the spear, returned to Queen’s College where the boar’s head was cooked and served.

Thus began a centuries old Christmas tradition in England and later the United States. However, the serving of the Boar’s Head was celebrated as early as 1170 by King Henry II and even earlier according to Greek and Roman mythologies. It was the first dish served at ceremonial meals. Since the king owned all the forests in England at the time only he and his peers were able to hunt wild life. By the 13th century, wild boars were extinct in England; so did Copcot really kill one in Shotover Forest in 1340? Who knows?

But the celebration has continued over centuries. Earlier this month, I was fortunate to attend The Boar’s Head and Yule Log Festival at University Christian Church in Fort Worth. It was a beautiful celebration that focused on the meaning of Christmas in music, drama, and dance. The entire membership of the congregation participated.
I felt like I was at Queen’s College attending the ancient Boar’s Head and Yule Log Festival there. The costumes were authentic, the music was superb, the children were so special, and even the village dogs were well behaved. It was a very unique ending to the Christmas season.

About a year ago, I participated in DNA testing. My results showed that 69% of my genetic background is Great Britain and 11% is Europe West. That agrees with my research; most of my ancestors were from Great Britain, but not Scotland or Ireland, and one family line migrated to the Colonies in 1751 from the Germanic states. So, as I sat in University Christian Church in Fort Worth one Saturday in January 2015, I wondered if any of my ancestors had participated in a Boar’s Head and Yule Log Festival. My calculations indicate that all were in North America by 1800 and probably by the time of the American Revolution.

Many of the participants were dressed as commoners. There were cooks, and hunters, and children, and dogs. It was like a village celebration of the Christmas season. Yet, my research (online) indicated that this festival was limited to kings, lords, scholars, and others of the Downton Abbey upstairs caste. Could some of my ancestors have lived in a village and participated in such a celebration? I would like to think so.

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Farmers’ Union

Posted on January 2, 2015 by admin

The Public Square in Greenville, Texas, ca. 1882. Farmers brought their cotton to town to sell each fall. If a street buyer, dressed in a suit, had his foot on the spokes of a wagon wheel, everyone knew the load was mortgaged to a furnishing merchant as crop lien.

On December 16, 1914 more than 200 farmers from North, East, West, and Central Texas gathered in Greenville for the Northeast Texas District Convention of the Farmers Union. It was an extremely critical time for them. With the war raging in Europe, there were no markets for their one cash crop: cotton. European mills that had previously bought cotton from the Southern states were now converted to armament and ammunition plants.

Over the years, farmers in the South had planted only cotton, relying on other areas of the U. S. for food and various necessities. On many farms, cotton was grown right up to the house, leaving no room for a small garden, a few hens, or even a milk cow. Weather, soil conditions, and market prices fluctuated drastically. The vast majority of farmers relied on crop lien and furnishing merchants.

Jim Bissett in his book Agrarian Socialism in America: Marx, Jefferson, and Jesus in the Oklahoma Countryside 1904-1920 offered an excellent vignette to describe the plight of the American cotton farmer. “Upon arriving in town with his harvest, the farmer first looked for a buyer who would pay a reasonable price for his cotton. At harvest time, streets were crowded with farmers in wagons loaded with cotton, and a class of men known as “street buyers” who brought buyers and sellers together. The street buyers were in the employ of local “furnishing” merchants. They walked from wagon to wagon naming the price each farmer would receive for his crop. No bartering was allowed, no fair market price was offered. Some farmers rejected the buyers’ early offers but quickly learned how limited their options were, and soon agreed to an even lower price.

“After selling his cotton, the farmer had to purchase supplies; inevitably from the same merchant who employed the street buyers. But did he receive a quote in line with the price he sold his cotton for? NO, he was told that the price of staples and agricultural supplies had gone up. He could pay or go home empty-handed. The commercial agricultural system was explicitly designed to give full advantage to the furnishing merchants at the expense of the farmer.

Cotton was a cash crop; the farmer was not paid until he sold his bales. That was all the cash he received each year. The rest of the year, anything he purchased was bought on credit. Cotton was simply the collateral locking the farmer into never-ending debt. No laws governed interest charged on credit at the store.

Any farmer felt fortunate to receive enough cash to pay off his debt and begin the next season with a clean slate. By 1914 some annual interest rates rose to 75 percent on necessities purchased at credit stores. Even worse, the credit stores charged as much as 50 percent more for credit than for cash sales non-agricultural patrons made.

Today most people think of King Cotton, but a king can quickly become a dictator. In the early twentieth century, Bisset tells us that furnishing merchants became dictators of farm production. They believed that the only crop worth growing was cotton.

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A Century Ago

Posted on December 31, 2014 by admin

A 30-60 Dirt Loader used to improve roads in rural North Texas in 1914. Nothing like pavement, though.

Last December I decided it would be fun to see what were the leading news stories in 1914, how did North Texas react to the crisis in Europe. The only problem was that none of the three Greenville newspapers were extant. So I widened my field to include newspapers throughout North Texas. Some of the articles were of the same genre found in today’s newspapers; others were very surprising.

Fires, murders, deaths and illnesses, automobile accidents, and robberies made every newspaper. Grand Jury reports were posted in detail after every session. Gambling charges were often filed for shooting craps, especially at the local railroad station. However, it was perfectly legal to play cards or poker at private clubs or lodges for both men and women.

Early 20th century advertising is quite interesting. Not only are the prices eye-openers, but the goods for sale were often unique. Patent medicines could be found among newspaper columns, often as testimonials. Banks, doctors, and dentists blatantly advertised.

Social events were numerous. Schools had box suppers as fund-raisers for desks and seats. Personal announcements shared vacation and visiting plans. Numerous fraternal organizations held meetings and dinners; churches often held lengthy revivals lasting several weeks. Of course, there were marriages, some large while others were small. The most unusual wedding I found in 1914 was held in Naud Burnett’s grocery store on the east side of the Greenville square. No explanation was given for the location.

Railroads advertised special rates in the summer, accidents were reported and there was always someone suing the railroads for injuries. In Hunt County, as well as many other North Texas counties, the plaintiff usually won. The Cotton Belt Railroad built a new $10,000 roundhouse in Commerce.

While the general elections were held in November, most issues were settled in Texas during the Democratic primary held in July. All spring candidates traveled by train and a few by automobile over the entire state campaigning for Good Roads, Socialism, expansion of Prohibition, and closing pool halls.

Football, baseball, track and field events made headlines and entertained local folks. A wagon train traveling westward passed through Commerce in the spring. A comet passed overhead but caused little excitement. Mild days and an ample amount of rainfall in the summer promised an excellent cotton crop for the fall.

Yet, the war that began August 4 when Germany invaded Belgium and garnered very little notice in local newspapers abruptly put a halt to all hopes of a successful cotton harvest. Most cotton grown in North Texas was exported to either England or France in 1914. With a war that looked more ominous and lengthy every day, the international cotton market crashed. France and England scrambled to manufacture uniforms, armaments, and ammunition. Local businessmen began a Buy-a-Bale campaign paying 10 cents per pound, which was a very low price. Naturally, the Buy-a-Bale projects could not finance every bale on the market or even come close. By the end of the year cotton was down to 7.3 cents per pound. Trench warfare along the German borders with France and Belgium had settled in.

A century ago, things looked bleak for everyone throughout the world. We know what happened, the long years of fighting to come that enveloped most of the world. The Great War was rapidly becoming a World War.

I plan to continue reading 1915 newspapers and posting events of the day on my Facebook account. Follow me for more news. I predict it will be 1916 before war news makes headlines in Texas. But watch out for trouble along the Rio Grande. You may be shocked by developments down there.

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Silent Night

Posted on December 31, 2014 by admin

Note the Pickelhaube helmets on the two German soldiers on the left.

A century ago an incredible event occurred Christmas Eve and Christmas Day along No Man’s Land between Belgium and France. What was more and more becoming known as World War I or the Great War experienced a populist movement that brought fighting to an abrupt halt between all the warring armies. Briefly there was a faint glimpse of hope that the cease-fire might be sustained.

Men from around the globe were then along the Western Front. France and England had reinforcements from their colonies in Africa, India, the Middle East, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia to fight alongside their own armies. Germany and Austria-Hungary were fortified with troops from parts of the Middle East and the Balkans.

Since mid-September, the Western Front was the scene of muddy trenches, rolls of barbed wire, and bodies dead or dying in the mud and snow. Retrieving the dead was an ordeal, occurring only when the high command ordered a brief halt to the incessant artillery fired.
Many of those fighting had never seen snow, didn’t celebrate Christmas, and barely understood French, German, or English. It was a weary time of constant fighting, deplorable conditions, and restriction in damp, dank, filthy trenches. For many those across No-Man’s Land were not enemies, just victims of political and military leaders as they all were.

Early in December, the newly elected Pope Benedict XV appealed for a Christmas cease-fire. Both sides quickly rebuffed the plea. Yet the idea caught hold in the trenches. No one can say for certain where or by whom the cease-fire originated. All of the armies had distributed gifts of food, cigars, pipe tobacco, and cigarettes to their men. Bottles of wine and liquor suddenly appeared. For the German soldiers a Christmas tree was the epitome of the holiday season. From up and down the trench lines, German soldiers crawled out onto No Man’s Land with candle lit trees. Soldiers broke out into Christmas Carols, toasts, and cheers. The men were fed up with fighting!

The festivities continued until after mid-night. Early the next morning heads popped up over the trench walls. Was the cease-fire in effect? Truly it was, but this time enemies met along the neutral zone to exchange trinkets and food. One of the most popular mementoes was the Pickelhaube that spiked helmet worn by German soldiers and a distinct target for Allied sharpshooters.

All up and down the Western Front soccer balls, to Americans, magically found their way onto a make-do “football” fields between the lines. As quickly as the cease-fire began it was quashed by high-ranking officers on both sides. For a few hours, the horrors of war were forgotten, the enemy was seen as another human being, and everyone hoped for a continued truce.

Unfortunately, it would be almost four more years and hundreds of thousands lives lost before the firing stopped. Without the work of historian Stanley Weintraub in his Silent Night: The Story of The World War I Christmas Truce, the story would be unknown to us today. It is a beautiful story of hope amidst great despair. I encourage everyone to check it out at the Greenville library for a good read.

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Life in the Saddle

Posted on December 30, 2014 by admin

Illustration of Frank Collinson by Harold D. Bugbee

An online dictionary defines anecdotal evidence as non-scientific observations or studies, which do not provide proof but might assist research efforts. Because it does not provide proof it is considered invalid. However, I argue there are times when anecdotal evidence is useful. This past week I had such an example.

I am continuing to do the research for the history of a cattle ranch in Jack County. The heirs have a considerable amount of papers, legal documents, family histories, and other valuable sources. But some of these are rather lacking in detail; such as why did this man enjoy wolf hunts and why were his hunting dogs so pampered? Why did someone trust him with thousands of dollars to buy small cattle herds before a drive to Kansas markets? What was a cattle drive really like?

As I mulled over these and other questions, I turned to my collection of ranch histories. And in those old books, some of which belonged to my grandparents, I found answers to many of my questions. Yet none were scientifically correct, just anecdotal evidence. I argue that these are the best answers that can be found.

One of the books I read was Life in the Saddle by Frank Collinson (University of Oklahoma Press, 1963). Collinson was a well-educated Englishman who fell in love with the lore of Texas as a boy. In 1872 as a young lad of seventeen, his parents gave his passage on a sailing ship to Galveston where he made his way to an uncle’s office in San Antonio. From then until his death in 1943, Collinson worked on cattle ranches, mined in the Big Bend, and wrote columns in Ranch Romances, an early pulp magazine for Wild West enthusiasts.

There are quite a few statements that pertained to the Jack County rancher. For example, Collinson gives a detailed description of cattle drives, of the trail boss who made the rounds of smaller spreads buying steers to drive to market and the need to rebrand all cattle on the drive with one brand. But cattle were also driven to the various reservations in Indian Territory for sale as well as to Federal Forts throughout the region.
Wolf hunts developed into sporting events by 1900. But the root of the sport was the necessity of eradicating those animals that were putting an end to the cow-calf operations by killing young calves and many cows. The rancher worked on the Rocking Chair Ranch about 1884 where there were more than a few wolf hunts. Collinson described the methods on that ranch as well as the special care given to hunting dogs. Later the rancher continued hunts on his ranch for sport.

I have encountered two surnames that are significant to the work I am doing. One is Greathouse and the other is either Airhart or Earhart. Neither is a common name but the Jack County ranch has pasture named Airhart/Earhart and the site of the ranch headquarters is called the Greathouse place. It should be noted that it is customary in that part of the country to call a pasture or a “place” after the original owner. I discovered that Jim Greathouse was a notorious gunslinger at Fort Griffin not far from Jack County as well as references to Earhart and Airhart. Voila, a hint to further research.

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Christmas Parades

Posted on December 10, 2014 by admin

Greenville High School Marching Band in an undated photograph. Look at those plumes.

Parades have been around since the days of Ancient Rome and Greece, perhaps even earlier. The earliest parades I have found in North Texas were circus parades, long before the coming of railroads. A circus parade was reported in Bonham shortly after the end of the Civil War. This particular one had a calliope bringing up the rear, followed by a lively crowd of children.

One of the most noted parades today is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade that unofficially begins the Christmas Season. This year the event celebrated its 90th anniversary, as did another Thanksgiving parade in Detroit. But Philadelphia has such a parade even older, one that began in 1920. However, the earliest Santa Claus Parade was held in Peoria, Illinois in 1887.

North Texans were just really settling in about that time. Santa Claus appeared at community Christmas Trees on Christmas Eve, but not in a parade.
I really believe that Christmas Parades around here originated in the mid to late 1920s.

Surprisingly, with the Great Depression came free or low cost entertainment such as movies, high school sports and bands. These entertainment venues became a means of temporarily forgetting about one’s troubles. Football fever infected every town with a high school, a fever that still rages throughout the region. Along with football came high school bands, twirlers, cheerleaders, and in some places girls’ drill teams.

During the Depression local stores in every county seat or the primary market center created elaborate scenes in their store windows during the Christmas season. While many families could not afford the items, simply looking at the Christmas wonders was enough. It was only natural that a Christmas Parade would follow. Prior to the end of World War II, the parades were held on Saturday afternoons when local farm and ranch families came to town to do their weekly shopping and enjoy some entertainment.

Parades usually began with flag bearers, marching or on horseback, carrying American and Texas flags. A grand marshal, some local person who had accomplished a significant feat, rode in a convertible from the local car dealer. Local bands and drill teams performed for the spectators. Homemade floats carried church groups, Girl Scouts, and older citizens around the parade route that always went by the courthouse. Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts marched along with pride. If the local football team had won at least a few games they rode on a flatbed trailer or marched by to the cheers of the crowd. Toward the end came the mounted riders decked out in their best blue jeans and shirts. If there was a mounted Sheriff’s Posse they rode in precision style on their best horses. Many wore matching shirts.

Finally at the end of the parade came the fire truck. Seated in a prominent place was the jolly old fellow himself, St. Nick. Like the children in Bonham after the Civil War, children in North Texas ran after the fire truck catching candy Santa tossed to them.
Little has changed in Christmas Parades. Antique cars seem to have replaced horses. But Santa still makes his appearance.