Carol C Taylor Blog

Important reminder  
For the flu season

“Ka-chew,” said Lew to Miss Sue.
“Ka-chew,” was the answer to Lew.
‘Twas a sneeze and a squeeze,
And a squeeze and a sneeze,
For Sue, and Lew, too, had the flu.

It’s time to get flu shots.
Call your doctor!

(Complements of the late Otis C. Spencer, author of Cow Hill “Bits & Pieces”, An Irreverent History of Commerce and Its People, Volume One.

Professor Mayo, the man who made the college great, died in 1917, hours before the realization of his dream of his college becoming a state institution. Mrs. Mayo, died in October 1918, seven months after a second marriage to her private secretary, J. L. Booth. Mr. Mayo is buried on the campus and Etta Booth Mayo Booth is buried at Rosemound Cemetery. (And no, I have no idea why Etta had the word Booth in her name twice. Something worth looking into. She was a fascinating woman)

Otis Spencer was a wonderful teacher, historian and friend. Along with Maude Johnson and Dorothy Moore, the trio collected a great amount of information about our neighbors to the northeast. Their motto was that history has been defined as a set of socially-agreed on facts. One of Dr. Spencer’s history teachers told his classes that after an interesting story, “If that was not true, it should have been.”

As mentioned above, Mr. Mayo was buried under a red granite monument, behind Henderson Hall, that marks his grave. Dr. Spencer told an unusual story about the burial of Mayo. When he died, Mrs. Mayo requested that he be buried on the campus and she wanted to make sure that he would never be moved. So, she hired William J. McKittrick, Commerce’s concrete paver, to pour concrete over the Mayo coffin before the grave was filled with dirt.

During the solemn graveside ceremony for Mr. Mayo, Mr. McKittrick’s machine could be heard in the background mixing concrete, a disturbing overture to the long Mayo eulogies. Finally, when the ceremony was over and the crowd disbursed, Mr. McKittrick walked over and yelled down into the open grave. “Mr. Mayo, if you are ever going to come out, come out now. I am going to cover you with concrete.” Then the grave was filled with dirt and “Professor” William L. Mayo continues to rest on the campus.

Later, students and alumni decided to build a monument to Mr. Mayo. Over several years, the group collected $3,455.60, contributed by 282 individuals. The red granite monument was dedicated on June 25, 1926 and stands today as a campus landmark. For many years, the “Mayo’s Ex’es” students who went to school under Mr. Mayo, held their homecoming reunion at the Mayo gravesite, until their last reunion in 1984.

You ask, “Why was Mr. Mayo not addressed as Dr. Mayo?” The simple answer was he didn’t hold a PhD. He was a simple teacher who had a school in Bonham. When it burned and the citizens of Bonham were not enthusiastic to pay for a new structure, Mayo came to Commerce where the residents welcomed him. PhDs in northeast Texas came later.

Hunt County officially received its one-hundredth Texas Historical Marker recently. This was not a normal historical marker, but only one of two special markers here in Hunt County. Both are considered Undertold Markers, a very unique way to recognize local history that is often not represented subjects or simply stories that have seldom been told. The first one honored Mary Jim Morris, an early Black educator here in Greenville. The latest one, unveiled on Saturday, August 22, 2020 told the story of the formation of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Wolfe City.

Beginning in 2006, the Texas Historical Commission began collecting $100 marker application fee to “establish an account to offer funding incentives for special or priority markers.” Funds are intended to address historical gaps, promote diversity of topics, and proactively document significant under representative subjects or untold stories.

The Ebenezer Baptist Church marker became a victim of 2020. It was approved just before the foundry that Texas Historical Commission used for years closed their business. That meant finding another foundry with comparable pricing and craftsmanship. Approved marker applications began to pile up while the search was diligently carried out. Shortly after a new foundry was contracted, the corona virus began. Staff at the Texas Historical Commission in Austin was sent home, as many were throughout the country. Work was completed but not as quickly as earlier.

The Ebenezer marker went to the new foundry in May of this year. Earlier this month the new marker arrived at Ebenezer Baptist Church at 301 Spencer Street in Wolfe City. Within two or three days it was proudly mounted on the front lawn of the church. But the story behind the marker is what is truly remarkable.

Wolfe City is located on the Blackland Prairie, where the deep soil is very fertile. While early settlers came, especially after the Civil War, they lived on large farms. Many were cattle ranches. Ranches were turned into cotton farms. One of the earliest churches was the Baptist Church.

On the first Sunday in June 1889, through the efforts of former slave Harrison Loftin a meeting convened to create a church for the Black community. Six white men, including Rev. Ponder met with three Black men and four Black women. When the church was organized, Louise Loftin named it Ebenezer Baptist Church from the Biblical story in the First Book of Samuel. The Jewish translation means Stone of Help, very apropos to the new church.

Note that the committee for the Black community had three men and four women. A woman gave the church a very significant name. To find a committee of mixed genders in the United States, especially in the Southern States was extremely unusual at that time. That was in 1889, more than 131 years before women were allowed to vote with the 19th Constitutional Amendment. That’s what made the creation of Ebenezer Baptist Church so very, very special.

Today, at Ebenezer, Melva Hill is the first woman preacher.