In July of 2006 the Christopher family purchased the Kanawha store from Gary Bryant
This blog is a record of the process that brings the past to the present and explains how it is progressing.
This is a narrative about the decision to buy into our past. We purchased a country store in questionable condition and began the process of giving it new life. Our family may have been country merchants but we are city people trying to overcome. Grinnin' and Pickin' never had more meaning than our adventures in Kanawha. If you are considering opening a small rural business this might be good readin'.
KANAWHA CEMETERY
The Kanawha Cemetery has been entered on line at
findagrave .com
A member of the Brown family and several other generous contributers have made pictures of the stones and some even have bio or obit information. There are some mistakes as to dates and spelling so it will be a work in progress for a while but this serious undertaking was a wonderful contribution and deserving of our thanks. I encourage anyone who has a loved one buried at Kanawha to make sure your information has been included and is listed correctly. Findagrave is a free contribution to the internet and a blessing to those who live far away.
findagrave .com
A member of the Brown family and several other generous contributers have made pictures of the stones and some even have bio or obit information. There are some mistakes as to dates and spelling so it will be a work in progress for a while but this serious undertaking was a wonderful contribution and deserving of our thanks. I encourage anyone who has a loved one buried at Kanawha to make sure your information has been included and is listed correctly. Findagrave is a free contribution to the internet and a blessing to those who live far away.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Please use this email address for blog, store or related information.
christophers@tx.rr.com
picture date about 1910
Willie Frances and Harriet Cornelia Walker
Kanawha Surnames
- Boulware from Missouri and Tennessee
- Bowman from Tennessee
- Brock from Georgia
- Brown of West Virginia
- Chambless from Georgia
- Davenport from Tennessee
- Davis from Georgia
- Edmondson from Virginia
- Hart from Arkansas
- King from South Carolina
- Marchbanks from Tennessee
- Miller from Georgia
- Moore from Tennessee
- Mumpower from Missouri
- Oliver from Arkansas
- Perdue from Virginia
- Perot from Louisiana
- Peterson from Georgia
- Ringwald from Germany
- Robinson from North Carolina
- Sharp from Arkansas
- St Clair from Virginia
- Vaughan from Tennessee
- Vickrey from Missouri and Tennessee
- Walker from Kentucky and North Carolina
- Ward from Tennessee
- Whittle fron South Carolina
JONESBORO, TEXAS the "GATEWAY" renamed Davenport after the Civil War
This disputed land now Red River County Texas claimed by both Arkansas/Oklahoma and Texas was the site of a ferry crossing and steam boats docked there.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~txredriv/clark/pc_013.htm
Jonesboro had a hotel and blacksmith. There were also a few warehouses. Moses Austin in 1819, Stephen F. Austin in 1821, and Sam Houston in 1832 all passed through Jonesboro into Texas.
http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~full/00-nov--isaac.htm
A flash flood wiped out Jonesboro in the 1840's. Today a marker says, "Near Here at the old Jonesboro Crossing Sam Houston an envoy of President Andrew Jackson first set foot on Texas soil December 2, 1832."
http://www.easttexasradio.com/east_texas_journal/etj20050323_1.htm
"Opened as early as 1814; heavily used by 1817. Named for 1819-21 ferry owner Henry Jones."
http://www.rootsweb.com/~txredriv/clark/pc_013.htm
Jonesboro had a hotel and blacksmith. There were also a few warehouses. Moses Austin in 1819, Stephen F. Austin in 1821, and Sam Houston in 1832 all passed through Jonesboro into Texas.
http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~full/00-nov--isaac.htm
A flash flood wiped out Jonesboro in the 1840's. Today a marker says, "Near Here at the old Jonesboro Crossing Sam Houston an envoy of President Andrew Jackson first set foot on Texas soil December 2, 1832."
http://www.easttexasradio.com/east_texas_journal/etj20050323_1.htm
"Opened as early as 1814; heavily used by 1817. Named for 1819-21 ferry owner Henry Jones."
Marshall Ambrose Boulware and Anna Opal Walker
Ambrose and Opal Boulware ran the M A Boulware store in Kanawha. I believe it was established sometime after 1930. It sat on the east side of 410 next to the one room Methodist church under a grove of oak trees. I know my grandmother Willie Boulware was partial to their store. Opal was always kind to stop and visit. My grandmother, being a widow, was glad to have the company. They operated the store until it burned to the ground. Ambrose and Opal had two daughters. The home they built is in the turn of the road across from the original G W Boulware homestead. Ambrose was my grandfather's (Ras Boulware) brother's (James F Boulware) child. Opal was my Grandmothers (Willie Walker) fathers (Joseph Walker) brothers (August Walker) grandchild. August Walker was also married to Narcissa O Hart who is my greatgandmothers (Ellen Sharp Boulware) half sister. I think this makes us cousins three ways from Sunday.
William Ernest Boulware and Zelma Jane King
In March of 2006 Ernest Boulware was laid to rest in Kanawha Cemetery.
He went to Dallas once. About three times a year he traveled to Clarksville. Once to buy Christmas gifts for his family and friends. Once to buy a new white pickup truck usually a GMC and once to take care of some business transaction. Otherwise he pretty much stayed on 410 and the little roads that crisscross it. He was in his 90's and my heart aches at the thought of this world without the likes of him. His brothers and one sister all preceeded him in death. My mother is the last surviving sibling.
Aunt Jane closed the W E Boulware store in Kiamatia. At 93 I think she thought it was time to retire. Billie Bell reported the closing in her Red River Blog and lamented there was no longer a place to get gas or buy a loaf of bread.
Ernest grew cotton back when it was picked by hand. Later he switched to cattle ranching. He had mostly white faced cows. He helped Jane tend the store when he had time. It was a simple life where right was right and lots of patience for those in between. My children remember sitting around the pot bellied stove at the back of the store drinkin Dr Pepper and listening to the news.
http://www.texasescapes.com/EastTexasTowns/Kiomatia-Texas.htm
William Edgar Watson and Wilma Jean Boulware April 8 1946
My mother worked in the store her father Erastus 'Ras" Boulware ran in Manchester. She was 16 years old with her daddy's green eyes and her moma's freckles. Daddy was wearing his Air Force uniform and was startlingly handsome with deep blue eyes and dark curly hair. He came in for a pack of cigarettes and left with a date.
They married in Indianappolis Indiana where they lived until Daddy was out of the military. They traveled back to Kanawha where my mother lived on sweet potatoes until I was delivered at St Joseph Hospital in Paris.
My father is the son of Estella Pearl Draper. Stella's father was Edgar Pierce Draper who is distantly related to Edgar Allen Poe. Edgar was born in Missouri the only son of Jessee Draper Jr. and Alla L. Poe. The Draper family lived in Manchester and is buried at Leesville Cemetery.
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/MM/hnm9.html
My mother is the daughter of Erastus Boulware and Willie Frances Walker. Son and daughter of Kanawha pioneers who are buried in Kanawha Cemetery.
They married in Indianappolis Indiana where they lived until Daddy was out of the military. They traveled back to Kanawha where my mother lived on sweet potatoes until I was delivered at St Joseph Hospital in Paris.
My father is the son of Estella Pearl Draper. Stella's father was Edgar Pierce Draper who is distantly related to Edgar Allen Poe. Edgar was born in Missouri the only son of Jessee Draper Jr. and Alla L. Poe. The Draper family lived in Manchester and is buried at Leesville Cemetery.
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/MM/hnm9.html
My mother is the daughter of Erastus Boulware and Willie Frances Walker. Son and daughter of Kanawha pioneers who are buried in Kanawha Cemetery.
Web Sites Related to Kanawha and surrounding areas:
If you know of or have a web site please send it to me so we can include it below.
Friends Neighbors and Family
Kanawha (kuh-NOIE) name rooted in West Virginia
In 1886 Dr Charles P. Brown became postmaster. He named Kanawha after the Kanawha River in West Virginia, his home state. Today the West Virginians who live there have resorted to the soundex version of the name and pronounce it Kan-a wha but the original settlers used the Indian promounciation kun-NOIE we Texans hold to.
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/KK/hnk1.html
Besides our bigger parent city and county in West Virginia we have a big sister in Iowa where Kanawha has a population of about 600. Kanawha Iowa was also named for the Kanawha River in West Virginia established July 22, 1899 was named by a railroad engineer and West Virginia native.
http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=7416
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/KK/hnk1.html
Besides our bigger parent city and county in West Virginia we have a big sister in Iowa where Kanawha has a population of about 600. Kanawha Iowa was also named for the Kanawha River in West Virginia established July 22, 1899 was named by a railroad engineer and West Virginia native.
http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=7416
they got here as fast as they could
This summer my husband and several sons are going to help bring up a web site for the store. It will have some pages devoted to those who came and left early as well as those who came late and stayed. These last are not early pioneers but they have given something back to this small community and I hope to honor that. So if you gave me information about either of these groups please have patience as I have not forgotten you.
CADDO
If you follow 410 North from Kanawha beyond Kiomatia, the Wright Plantation house sits on top of a Caddo Indian burial or cerimonial mound that dates back several thousand years before the time of Christ.
http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/TX/Red+River/districts.html
The Caddo were peaceful hunter gatherers. It is easy to see how this long deserted mound was not recognized for what it was and chosen as high ground near the Red River. Not so many years ago small abandoned slave housing lined the south/right side of 410 in a neat row. I was told newspapers from the 1800's lined the walls of these small unpainted structures that no longer exist.
When I was a little girl my Uncle Dean Boulware ran the Flying K Ranch which is the site of another Caddo Indian mound in this immediate area. This site is called the Faskin Mound. The sprawling white ranch house I played in with my cousins was on a hill. So I have to wonder if I walked barefoot across a Caddo Mound unaware. We listened to Fats Domino sing I Found My Thrill On Blueberry Hill played on a record player. I was about 7 or 8 years old. I think the natural spring water that bubbles up from the ground in this area may have been better than modern plumbing to these primitive Caddos.
.
http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/TX/Red+River/districts.html
The Caddo were peaceful hunter gatherers. It is easy to see how this long deserted mound was not recognized for what it was and chosen as high ground near the Red River. Not so many years ago small abandoned slave housing lined the south/right side of 410 in a neat row. I was told newspapers from the 1800's lined the walls of these small unpainted structures that no longer exist.
When I was a little girl my Uncle Dean Boulware ran the Flying K Ranch which is the site of another Caddo Indian mound in this immediate area. This site is called the Faskin Mound. The sprawling white ranch house I played in with my cousins was on a hill. So I have to wonder if I walked barefoot across a Caddo Mound unaware. We listened to Fats Domino sing I Found My Thrill On Blueberry Hill played on a record player. I was about 7 or 8 years old. I think the natural spring water that bubbles up from the ground in this area may have been better than modern plumbing to these primitive Caddos.
.
410 North called the "SHOTGUN"
This section of FM 410 was constructed in different projects from the late 1940's to the early 1960's. The five bridges between Detroit and Kanawha began construction in 1948. The roadway from Kanawha to West Scrap (approx. 3 miles)
began construction in 1952. The roadway from approx. 5.5 miles South of Woodland to Woodland began construction in 1955. The roadway from Kiomatia North then East for 13 miles began construction in 1963.
facts provided by TXDOT
Information about 410 being called the shotgun after the 410 shell came from JW Peterson son of Minnie Perterson, my Grandmothers sister. JW passed away November 26, 2004 in St Louis Missouri.
began construction in 1952. The roadway from approx. 5.5 miles South of Woodland to Woodland began construction in 1955. The roadway from Kiomatia North then East for 13 miles began construction in 1963.
facts provided by TXDOT
Information about 410 being called the shotgun after the 410 shell came from JW Peterson son of Minnie Perterson, my Grandmothers sister. JW passed away November 26, 2004 in St Louis Missouri.
Kanawha Texas
Kanawha Pioneers
If your family was in Kanawha in the 1800's and you know their place of birth, please send it to me and I will include it in our pioneer list. If you know the year they were first residents of Kanawha I would like to have that also.
William "Bill" Christopher, Owner of the Kanawha store
Bill is a native Pennsylvanian. He grew up in Finleyville, a suburb of Pittsburgh with his two brothers (Jack and Larry) and two sisters Cathy and Sandy) . In addition to his parents and siblings Bill's Uncle Tex and Aunt Ginny left a profound impression on him.
He attended Penn State majoring in engineering, and still roots for the Nittney Lions. He ended up in Texas with some college buddies thinking he would go home when he tired of the visit. That was 27 years ago.
A Programer for an outsourcing company in Arlington he is on call 24/7 but restricted travel every two weeks. Bill's job involves problem solving and maintance. He deals with robots that load information both stored and retrieved in business applications. The obvious side bar to this job is a good bit of stress.
On a personal side Bill is a self taught student of the Bible especially the Old Testament. In our family we consider him an expert. Sundays sometimes include a good bit of informative background on the chapter we are studying because of his indepth knowledge.
Usually considerate and polite Bill was welcomed into our family 26 years ago. He earned love and respect by walking quietly, being able to laugh with you even if the joke was on him and working harder faster and longer than men a head taller than he is. Two neck surgeries due to degenerative disks have his children calling for him to be reasonable in his expectations but that is not always so.
One of Bill's attributes is a carefulness in his work. He will double and triple check to be sure the outcome is correct. He is aware of other impacts the changes he makes might have and will avoid a conflict if at all possible. Upright and honorable in his dealings he will not cheat or steal. It is these attributes he will bring to the store.
Bill's Great Great Grandmother Mary Jane Cummins parents were born in the country of TEXAS in the early 1800's. By 1825 they were in Missouri where Mary Jane was born. Mary Jane Cummins married Richard Matthews (an Irish family from Alabama) and their daughter Mary Jane Matthews married William H Christopher who is Bill's Great Grandfather.
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/america/old300.htm
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/JJ/hvj16.html
The Austin colony of 300 good souls traveled across the Red River through the Davenport area indicated with a historical marker on the 410 loop above Kanawha and as many as 69% of the old 300 as they are called came from this area of Arkansas later claimed by Texas. So when Bill digs his heels in that red sand of Kanawha, he is just coming home.
He attended Penn State majoring in engineering, and still roots for the Nittney Lions. He ended up in Texas with some college buddies thinking he would go home when he tired of the visit. That was 27 years ago.
A Programer for an outsourcing company in Arlington he is on call 24/7 but restricted travel every two weeks. Bill's job involves problem solving and maintance. He deals with robots that load information both stored and retrieved in business applications. The obvious side bar to this job is a good bit of stress.
On a personal side Bill is a self taught student of the Bible especially the Old Testament. In our family we consider him an expert. Sundays sometimes include a good bit of informative background on the chapter we are studying because of his indepth knowledge.
Usually considerate and polite Bill was welcomed into our family 26 years ago. He earned love and respect by walking quietly, being able to laugh with you even if the joke was on him and working harder faster and longer than men a head taller than he is. Two neck surgeries due to degenerative disks have his children calling for him to be reasonable in his expectations but that is not always so.
One of Bill's attributes is a carefulness in his work. He will double and triple check to be sure the outcome is correct. He is aware of other impacts the changes he makes might have and will avoid a conflict if at all possible. Upright and honorable in his dealings he will not cheat or steal. It is these attributes he will bring to the store.
Bill's Great Great Grandmother Mary Jane Cummins parents were born in the country of TEXAS in the early 1800's. By 1825 they were in Missouri where Mary Jane was born. Mary Jane Cummins married Richard Matthews (an Irish family from Alabama) and their daughter Mary Jane Matthews married William H Christopher who is Bill's Great Grandfather.
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/america/old300.htm
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/JJ/hvj16.html
The Austin colony of 300 good souls traveled across the Red River through the Davenport area indicated with a historical marker on the 410 loop above Kanawha and as many as 69% of the old 300 as they are called came from this area of Arkansas later claimed by Texas. So when Bill digs his heels in that red sand of Kanawha, he is just coming home.
About Me
- Frances
- Kanawha, Texas
- My family has owned a store in Red River County for over 100 years. A branch of my husbands family was in Texas when it was a country unto it's self. We are Irish, German and English. Original pioneers to this area, we are coming home.
HISTORY
The store stands on the site of the first store in Kanawha. It was owned by William 'Bill' A Walker, purchased January 11 1898.
Mr Whittle came calling while we were working on the store, and he said the store was large and sold a little of everything.
Bill Walker was my Great Grandfathers brother on my maternal Grandmothers paternal side. He married Ida M Hart who was my Great Grandmothers half sister on my maternal Grandfathers maternal side. Bill and Ida were blessed with nine children.
In 1920 on January 6th they sold the store to Charles D Hart. Charlie was Ida's brother. Charlie married Nanny Taylor who taught school. They didn't have any children.
Mr Easterwood told us the store burned to the ground.
In 1970 August 6 Van Brock in conjunction with Wm Neely who owned Riverwood Farms constructed a large steel building on this site. He sold a good quantity of feed. Van ran the store until he retired and moved to Paris. He still owns land in Kanawha.
Cathy Sweeden/Colvin purchased the store and opened it as Cathy's Corner. She sold a good bit of everything and her burgers were very popular. Cathy ran the store for about 10 years.
For five years it remained closed until we reclaimed it in 2006.
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/KK/hnk1.html
Mr Whittle came calling while we were working on the store, and he said the store was large and sold a little of everything.
Bill Walker was my Great Grandfathers brother on my maternal Grandmothers paternal side. He married Ida M Hart who was my Great Grandmothers half sister on my maternal Grandfathers maternal side. Bill and Ida were blessed with nine children.
In 1920 on January 6th they sold the store to Charles D Hart. Charlie was Ida's brother. Charlie married Nanny Taylor who taught school. They didn't have any children.
Mr Easterwood told us the store burned to the ground.
In 1970 August 6 Van Brock in conjunction with Wm Neely who owned Riverwood Farms constructed a large steel building on this site. He sold a good quantity of feed. Van ran the store until he retired and moved to Paris. He still owns land in Kanawha.
Cathy Sweeden/Colvin purchased the store and opened it as Cathy's Corner. She sold a good bit of everything and her burgers were very popular. Cathy ran the store for about 10 years.
For five years it remained closed until we reclaimed it in 2006.
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/KK/hnk1.html