Saturday, November 28, 2009

More Southern Expressions that "take the rag off the bush"

The continuing series Southern Expressions that "take the rag off the bush" from the Hill Country column at Monroe Journal includes the following two parts. Click on each URL to read.



For links to the other columns in this series, look to the left side bar of this page.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Chaistain Cemetery, Itawamba County, MS

An alphabetized list of names from the grave markers at Chaistain Cemetery, Itawamba County, Mississippi is available at http://hillcountryhogsblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/chastain-cemetery-alphabetical-list-of.html

Included with the names are years of birth and death and links to the photographs of the grave markers.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Maxey Cemetery, Itawamba County MS

An alphabetized list of names from the grave markers at Maxey Cemetery, Itawamba County, Mississippi is available at http://hillcountryhogsblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/maxey-cemetery-alphabetized-list-of.html

Included with the names are years of birth and death and links to the photographs of the grave markers.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

James Wyatt Spencer, Grave marker dedication service

A photographic essay of the Grave Marking and Dedication Service for James Wyatt Spencer, 1840-1923, CSA, is posted at the following link: Click to read; click individual photographs for a larger image.
http://hillcountryhogsblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/grave-marking-and-dedication-service-of.html

Thursday, November 12, 2009

More expressions that will take the rag off the bush

Part 15 of the continuing series, Southern expression that will 'take the rag off the bush' is posted at the following link: http://hillcountryhogsblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/part-15-southern-expressions-that-will.html Click link to learn about using the circa 1300 A.D. words, hisn, hern, and ourn --- words still heard in the Hill Country reflecting our long and lively heritage to 'Merrie Ole England.' Help keep these words in use by dropping them into a conversation with your friends soon!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Southern expressions that 'will take the rag off the bush' continues

Part 14 of the continuing series, Southern Expressions That Will Take The Rag Off The Bush, is my Hill Country column from 11-4-09, Monroe Journal. It can be read by clicking the link below.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

A Poem for Hill Country: Richard Cory by Edwin A. Robinson

The weekend series, A Poem for Hill Country, continues with a memorable poem, Richard Cory, written by American poet Edwin Arlington Robinson. To read Richard Cory, click the link below.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Stories from the Hill Country continue to be posted

Hill Country CD Christmas ordering information

by Terry Thornton
email: hillcountrymonroecounty@gmail.com

Hill Country stories continue to be written and links to all the new articles are at Hill Country H.O.G.S. WebPress (History, Observations, Genealogy, and Stories of the Hill Country of Monroe County Mississippi), click to access.

Earlier stories of the Hill Country are available for purchase on a CD. Nine-hundred forty-seven (947) older articles from Hill Country are included on the CD, Hill Country of Monroe County Mississippi Volume 1. Click here to order. Click here to view the table of contents of Hill County Volume 1 CD.

For other CDs available, see information at left side-bar of this page (click to view).

Christmas orders should be received by December 1 to assure delivery by December 24.

The Ridings Family: Murdered at Bigby Fork, 1880

Additional information about the December 1880 murders of three members of the H.B. Ridings family has been posted at the article The Ridings Family Murders, 1880, Monroe County, Mississippi (click to read).

More southern words and expressions


by Terry Thornton
email: hillcountrymonroecounty@gmail.com

Three of my recent Hill Country columns from the Monroe Journal are now posted on-line. Click the links below to read the columns from the past three Wednesdays at MOJO's Hill County series, Southern Expressions That Will Take The Rag Off the Bush:


Previous columns are linked in the left sidebar. The twenty-two part series will continue through the end of the year.

The Monroe Journal is the weekly newspaper of Monroe County, Mississippi, with offices in Amory.


Thursday, October 29, 2009

Hill Country Places

The series, Hill Country Places, resumes with a brief discussion of several west-of-the river sites of Monroe County. The article, Rubby's Hog Craul, The Peck Mill, Eureka, Bigby Fork, and Nettleton may be read by clicking here.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Mississippi Hill Country Heritage Day: SUNDAY


to

Mississippi Hill Country Heritage Day
A benefit for the preservation of The Cedars
(Cates-Gaither House)

Sunday, October 18, 2009, 2 - 5 PM
211 Main Street
Fulton, Mississippi

An affiliate of Create Foundation and the first preservation project of
Preserving Itawamba County's Heritage

Tour the house and grounds.

Music: Appalachian dulcimers, reed organ, bluegrass banjo and fiddle and guitar, vocalist/composer Eddie Moore, music legend Kay Bain, and the Stricklands

Food: Chicken and dumplings, greens, corn-on-the cob, soup, cornbread, bread pudding, sweet tea and lemonade

Activities: Whittling, churning butter, washing clothes, shucking and shelling corn, spinning yarn, tatting, spool knitting, crocheting, basket making, leather working

Games: pitching washers and horseshoes, sack races, domino and checkers, shooting marbles

Antique cars: Scheduled: Early Ford and a 1933 Cadillac Fleetwood.
. . . and more!

Tickets may be purchased at the front entrance of The Cedars
Adults: $15
Students: $ 10
Under five years of age: free

All tax-deductive donations are appreciated and welcomed to help preserved The Cedars (Cates-Gaither House), Fulton's second oldest surviving residence. Make your checks payable to
Create-Gaither House Project Fund

Help save part of Fulton's heritage --- join Preserving Itawamba County's Heritage, a community-action group pledged to the preservation, relocation, and renovation of The Cedars.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009


Photo-advertisement courtesy of Bob Franks, ICDC, Fulton, MS.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Nobel Peace Prize and When Pigs Fly: A Hill Country Hootie Hoo

The Saturday series, A Hill Country Hootie Hoo, today offers up an opinion about the Nobel Peace Prize and When Pigs Fly. Click the following link to read:

Friday, October 9, 2009

A Hill Country Family: Ben and Dovie Greenwood, George, Tom and Kate of Nettleton, 1944

The series, A Hill Country Family, examines a special bill considered in the U.S. House of Representative and the U.S. Senate for the benefit of the Greenwood family of Nettleton, Mississippi. Much of the information within the bill and its attachments of affidavits reads like a time capsule for life in the Hill Country during the 1940s. The tragic accident involving Ben and Dovie Greenwood, George, Tom, and Kate on the evening of March 16, 1944, just outside of Nettleton makes for an interesting lesson about our history and heritage. To read, click the following link:

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Hill Country Column from MONROE JOURNAL

The series, Southern expressions that will take the rag off the bush, continues at the Hill Country column at Monroe Journal. Click below to read the Part 10 of the series.


Wednesday, October 7, 2009

A Hill Country Place: Walls Tan Yard Post Office

The series, Hill Country Places, present information to help locate the position of Walls Tan Yard Post Office, Monroe County, Mississippi. A postal route map from 1839 states that Walls Tan Yard Post Office is 12 miles east of Cotton Gin Port Post Office and 7 miles north of Quincy Post Office.

Twelve miles east of Cotton Gin Port and seven miles north of Old Quincy would place Walls Tan Yard post office in the heart of Hill Country.

But where is that spot? To view the maps and read the brief discussion, click the following link:

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

A Hill Country Story Told in Stone: Daniel Wayne Bird

The series, A Hill Country Story Told in Stone, today looks at the grave marker at Sartor Cemetery and provides information about Daniel Wayne Bird. A descendant of one of the first family's of Hill Country, Dan Bird was the first Monroe County serviceman killed in World War 1. His story is told at the following link:

Monday, October 5, 2009

My Hill Country Assurances from working --- some jobs I've done

The weekly series, My Hill Country Assurances, takes a look at work and at some of the jobs I had during my most formative years. To read click the links below:

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Left click image for a larger view

A Poem for Hill Country: Another poem by Sam Walter Foss

The continuing series, A Poem for Hill Country, today features another work by American poet Sam Walter Foss. Click the link below to read


Saturday, October 3, 2009

A Hill Country Hootie Hoo

Today A Hill Country Hootie Hoo announces that I, yes me, Terry Thornton, will be performing a short program of music on the almost 125 year-old portable folding Stockton Reed Organ on Sunday afternoon, October 18, 2009. The event is Mississippi Hill Country Heritage Day and all proceeds benefit the preservation efforts to relocate and to restore The Cedars, Fulton's second oldest surviving residence. And Hootie Hoo today republishes an article with photographs of the Stockton Reed Organ.

Where: 211 Main Street, Fulton, Mississippi

Event: Mississippi Hill Country Heritage Day

Sunday, October 18, 2009, 2 - 5 PM. Activities include tours and information of the house, displays, games, tasting of period foods, music and more

Event ticket prices: $15 for adults; $10 for students; and little kids free

Now, to read the article about the Stockton Portable Reed Organ from Monroe County, click the following link:

Friday, October 2, 2009

A Hill Country Family: Hollingsworths in Monroe County

The series, A Hill Country Family, continues with a look at my Hollingsworth family of early Monroe Country. This article may be read by clicking the following link:

Thursday, October 1, 2009

More southern words and expression

Part 9 of the series, Southern expressions that will take the rag off the bush, has been posted. Read read click this link:

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Hill Country Place: Ironwood Bluff Bridge --- Video

The continuing series, Hill Country Places, features a "Through the Windshield Video" of the historic Ironwood Bluff Bridge across the Tombigbee River in southern Itawamba County, Mississippi. For a short article, a photograph, and a video of a drive across the old one-lane bridge, click the following link:

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

A Hill Country Story Told in Stone: Ridings Family --- Murdered 1880

The story about the H.B. Ridings family continues today with information obtained by visiting the cemetery where they are buried --- the triple grave marker is inscribed with "Murdered on December 17, 1880." To read more about this family and to view photographs of the grave markers, click the following link:

A Hill Country Story Told in Stone: The H.B. Ridings Family

For additional information about this family, click this link to an earlier article:



Monday, September 28, 2009

My Hill Country Assurances, continued: MY BROTHER

The continuing series, My Hill Country Assurances, takes a photographic look at my brother, Sherman Thornton. To access this article, click the link below:

Sunday, September 27, 2009

A Poem for Hill Country: To Mrs. Eleanor Potts by Francis Scott Key

The Sunday series, A Poem for Hill Country, continues with a word picture from October 22, 1840 written by Francis Scott Key, "To Mrs. Eleanor Potts." The poem paints a lovely picture of a blind lady playing a guitar. To read, click the link below:

Saturday, September 26, 2009

A Hill Country Hootie Hoo and SPECIAL THANKS

to the Francis Marion Rogers SCV Camp of Monroe County for the cleanup of Mound Cemetery in Amory . . .

to the volunteers from Preserving Itawamba County's Heritage, Fulton United Methodist Church Junior UMYF group, and hard workers volunteering their time from Fulton and Itawamba County Mississippi in the cleanup of The Cedars/Cates-Gaither House . . .

to Roy and Rita Thompson of Hatley Mississippi for their hospitality and their sharing of historical information and local lore to out-of-state researcher this week.

For the rest of the story and some photographs, click this link

Friday, September 25, 2009

A Hill Country Family: Murdered in 1880?

The series, A Hill Country Family, continues with part of the story about the deaths of three members of Henry B. Ridings family on December 17, 1880, in Monroe County, Mississippi. To read click on the following link: