Journal of a Hound Dog Man: George Pyron's "Wolf Races - 1934-1935"
Bernard Pyron
These are the notes that my older brother George Pyron (1918-1998) made in the thirties about a number of what he calls "Wolf Races," or coyote hunts, by the Pyron hounds and the hounds of other Somerset men. George was born February 17, 1918 and would have been 16 in February of 1934. The "Wolf Hunters" hunted only in the winter months because the coyotes left more of a scent trail in the colder weather. If one had calendars for the years 1934 and 1935 the dates of many of these hunts would have been on Saturdays. George and Daddy both worked all day Saturdays in the Will Kenney Red and White grocery store in Somerset and then went out with their dogs on the hunts.
George Pyron With One of His Coyote Hounds
November 30, 1934 - Caught one wolf in south-east part of Ballard pasture. Ran one hour and fifteen minutes. Caught two more in McDonald's pasture, first one in two hours, second one two and a half hours.About 45 dogs. S. Guynes, Ed Pakowitz, Woods, Jasper Newman, McKon brothers. Pep and three others caught in traps. Left Jack and he came home.
My comments: Woods is the only name I recognize of those who were along on this hunt. I remember that when several Somerset area coyote hunters were gathered around a camp fire and turned most or all their hounds loose when a trail dog jumped a coyote to start a hot trail, there could be fifty of more hounds running behind the coyote. Pep was one of George and Daddy's lead dogs, a female, who was later shot and killed by C.L. Kight apparently in 1936. I remember Jack when I was a young boy, but not Pep.
December 8, 1934 - Ran first wolf five hours and was lost or caught by hog wire fence on the Poteet Road. Jumped in Wheeler pasture. Ran second one four hours and caught on creek below. Beulah, Cricket, Speck, Lad, Young Runt, Patsy and Crumy ran last one. Lost Old Aunt, Elgin's four pups and Qed. L.M. James 4, Bob Woods 5, we (George and Blake Pyron) 9, Elgin 4 and Simmons turned loose one. Ran one hour, star - Jack.
My comments: They always called coyotes wolves. I do not have a clear memory of any of the dogs listed in this December 8, 1934 hunt, except I remember that Beulah was one of the hounds George, Casey Pyron and Blake Pyron talked about in the thirties. Elgin is Elgin Kilborn, a Somerset man who became a policeman in San Antonio, and brother of Ernest Kilborn who married my mother's sister Bessie. The Kilborns originally lived southeast of the A.M.Pyron homestead tract in a house that could be seen from our house. The house was roughly west of the Gus Kurz house which was on Payne Road. L.M. James above is almost certainly Luther James, father of Bill James. So, they only turned loose about 23 hounds on this hunt.
December 22, 1934 - Went to Polk Lee pasture, and jumped on east side of the road. Caught one or more. Collins caught one alive. Ran six hours. John McCain 2, Woods, 4, Luther 3, Claud Johnson 4, and some others. Lost Speck and found him at McDonald's house next week.
My comments: Jumped means the dogs jumped a coyote and started running him on a hot trail. John McCain was a regular Somerset Wolf Hunter in the thirties and I remember going on hunts with my father, Blake Pyron, in the forties in which John McCain had the hounds. For most of those hunts I was along in the forties we camped at spots down a narrow dirt road running toward Atascosa Creek. The narrow road turned off just east of the ruins of an old rock schoolhouse, we called the Old Box School House. Luther above is Luther James, and I don't know who Claud Johnson was.
December 29, 1934 - John McCain and Luther jumped in Reed Thicket at 5 PM, ran to Black Hill, Kirk, Vogt, Bilhardt and Quesenberry. Ed Kampf tuned loose at 12 P.M., Otto at two A.M., we at five A.M. Ran on this side of Elm Creek when we turned loose and caught ay 8 A.M. under a house on a road below the light line. Curley cut bad by wolf.
My comments: Otto is Otto Koehler who was another regular wolf hunter with George and Daddy.
Pyron Coyote Hounds In Their Pen
January 2, 1935 - Lost Pep.
By "lost Pep" George must have meant that she did not come back to the campfire, but she was not killed at that time. She was one of their lead dogs and was killed apparently in 1936 by C.L. Kight. There was an article on the killing of the Lead Dog, Pep in the
Hunter's Horn, April 1936 page 16, about how in a Bexar county, Texas
court trial in San Antonio my father, Blake Pyron, testified that he
could tell what his hounds were running by the sound of their barking.
He said the dogs "never changed their tune," when the lead Dog Pep was
killed. The man who killed her said the hounds were running his hogs.
Since the address of the farmer who killed Pep and another Pyron hound
that night was given as Von Ormy, its likely that the incident
occurred in the general area of the Quesenberry, which was on the north
side of the Medina River between the Somerset Road crossing and the Poteet highway.
January 5, 1935 - Went below Woods and turned loose on pack that had been running
an hour and a half. Ran until 7: 30 A.M. All of ours ran whole race except Lemon, Mack and
Irishman. Guynes, Mosely, Young, Rogers, Woods, Elgin. Stars, Jack, Dixie and Rowdy.
My Comments: George names some wolf hunters on this hunt I have never heard of before. I think what he means by "went to Woods" was that they camped on land belonging to Woods, a regular in their
group.
January 26, 1935 - Went to pasture below woods and heard wolves howl in Byrom's pasture. Drove up road and Jerry and Dixie jumped hot and Jack and Pep trailed to Ballard and came back to the others.
Ran about forty five minutes and house dogs broke up the race. Beulah and Mack jumped another and ran an hour, and Jerry got caught in a trap and broke race up. Beulah and Smut and Mack trailed and jumped another one. About 2: 30 A.M. caught in Ballard. Elgin 4, Woods 3, We 10. Stars: Beulah, Dixie Smut, Pep.
My comments: So, Pep was still alive for this January 1935 hunt. I remember Smut clearly, because when I was four to five he had been retired from hunting and was allowed to stay outside the regular dog pen which was beside and to the south of the Blake Pyron cow pen. He hung around me a lot then and there was a story that one time a car was pulling in to the parking area at the Blake Pyron home and Smut got between the car and me to protect me.
February 2, 1935 - Went to Ballard and Jack, Beulah, Queen, Pep and Smut jumped and ran for three hours and out of hearing. Finally located them in lower Ballard and turned young dogs loose. Ran back toward Wilson's goat proof fence. Left Cricket, Speck, Arp and Red in McDonald's still running. John McCain, Woods and us.
February 4, 1935 - Got Crickett, Speck, Arp and Red.
My comment: I am not sure where the Ballard land was, but it might have been in the Black Jacks. I remember several times in the thirties, probably about 1936,, that Daddy and George would be gone almost all night on a Saturday night coyote hunt in the Black Jacks, and then on Sunday Daddy would drive back down there to try to find hounds which had not come to the camp when they were called in by the horn. George and Daddy had horns made from the horns of Texas long horn cattle that they trained their dogs to come to. They would train them by blowing the horn before they fed the dogs and then on a hunt, if the dogs were in hearing distance and were not on a hot chase, they would come to the call of the horn.
February 13, 1935 - John McCain got Jack, Pep and Dixie and jumped by Fox's house at 3: 30 P.M. Ran until 6: 30. Lost.
February 14, 1935 - Went to John Caruthers camp and heard Luther's dogs running. Followed them and turned loose in White's pasture, Jack, Pep, Queen, Smut and Beulah. Ran up to Lytle and crossed highway. Caught by Ball's house.
My comments: John Caruthers is probably John P.G. Carthurs, whose name was John Punch Grant Caruthers, father of Hansel Caruthers and son of George Caruthers, who was one of the men involved in the First Town Site Company, with Carl Kurz, A.M. Pyron and Joe Dixon, who founded the town of Somerset. George says above that they heard the hounds of Luther James running. To recognize the barking of particular dogs in a pack requires some listening skill, which many of the Somerset Wolf Hunters had. Many of those hound dog men had "good ears."
February 16, 1935 - Went to Langley pasture. Pep jumped one hot. The dogs made two circles around Langley, one and a half hours and then left straight out to Black Hill. Part of the dogs went out of hearing. Jack came home. John McCain 2, We, 9. Stars: Pep and Queen.
March 13, 1935 - Drove in lane up to Bush pasture. Luther and I walked through to Box House lane. Pep jumped on Cockrell Hill. Ran below John Sharbers and lost. Luther 4, We, 3.
My comment: By "Box House" George might have meant the Old Box School House.
April 6, 1935 - Went to Ed Wells. Jack and Pep jumped hot fifty yards from car. Ran through by Sharbers to Hartungs and ran out of hearing most of the time. Jack, Pep and Queen. Left Jack and Beaulah.
My Comments: Ed Wells owned more than one tract of land in the Somerset-Lytle area.
April 13, 1935 - Went to Ed Wells. Jumped on Cockrell Hill, ran three and a half hours. Otto, John McCain. Campbells's dogs came to ours, and Elgin's, John Sharber's and Luther's came to ours.
My comments: Again, George lists Wolf Hunters here I do not remember.
November 30, 1934 - Caught one wolf in south-east part of Ballard pasture. Ran one hour and fifteen minutes. Caught two more in McDonald's pasture, first one in two hours, second one two and a half hours.About 45 dogs. S. Guynes, Ed Pakowitz, Woods, Jasper Newman, McKon brothers. Pep and three others caught in traps. Left Jack and he came home.
My comments: Woods is the only name I recognize of those who were along on this hunt. I remember that when several Somerset area coyote hunters were gathered around a camp fire and turned most or all their hounds loose when a trail dog jumped a coyote to start a hot trail, there could be fifty of more hounds running behind the coyote. Pep was one of George and Daddy's lead dogs, a female, who was later shot and killed by C.L. Kight apparently in 1936. I remember Jack when I was a young boy, but not Pep.
George Pyron At the 1936 Wolf Hunters Field Trials
December 8, 1934 - Ran first wolf five hours and was lost or caught by hog wire fence on the Poteet Road. Jumped in Wheeler pasture. Ran second one four hours and caught on creek below. Beulah, Cricket, Speck, Lad, Young Runt, Patsy and Crumy ran last one. Lost Old Aunt, Elgin's four pups and Qed. L.M. James 4, Bob Woods 5, we (George and Blake Pyron) 9, Elgin 4 and Simmons turned loose one. Ran one hour, star - Jack.
My comments: They always called coyotes wolves. I do not have a clear memory of any of the dogs listed in this December 8, 1934 hunt, except I remember that Beulah was one of the hounds George, Casey Pyron and Blake Pyron talked about in the thirties. Elgin is Elgin Kilborn, a Somerset man who became a policeman in San Antonio, and brother of Ernest Kilborn who married my mother's sister Bessie. The Kilborns originally lived southeast of the A.M.Pyron homestead tract in a house that could be seen from our house. The house was roughly west of the Gus Kurz house which was on Payne Road. L.M. James above is almost certainly Luther James, father of Bill James. So, they only turned loose about 23 hounds on this hunt.
Pyron Coyote Hounds Of the Thirties
December 22, 1934 - Went to Polk Lee pasture, and jumped on east side of the road. Caught one or more. Collins caught one alive. Ran six hours. John McCain 2, Woods, 4, Luther 3, Claud Johnson 4, and some others. Lost Speck and found him at McDonald's house next week.
My comments: Jumped means the dogs jumped a coyote and started running him on a hot trail. John McCain was a regular Somerset Wolf Hunter in the thirties and I remember going on hunts with my father, Blake Pyron, in the forties in which John McCain had the hounds. For most of those hunts I was along in the forties we camped at spots down a narrow dirt road running toward Atascosa Creek. The narrow road turned off just east of the ruins of an old rock schoolhouse, we called the Old Box School House. Luther above is Luther James, and I don't know who Claud Johnson was.
December 29, 1934 - John McCain and Luther jumped in Reed Thicket at 5 PM, ran to Black Hill, Kirk, Vogt, Bilhardt and Quesenberry. Ed Kampf tuned loose at 12 P.M., Otto at two A.M., we at five A.M. Ran on this side of Elm Creek when we turned loose and caught ay 8 A.M. under a house on a road below the light line. Curley cut bad by wolf.
My comments: Otto is Otto Koehler who was another regular wolf hunter with George and Daddy.
January 2, 1935 - Lost Pep.
By "lost Pep" George must have meant that she did not come back to the campfire, but she was not killed at that time. She was one of their lead dogs and was killed apparently in 1936 by C.L. Kight. There was an article on the killing of the Lead Dog, Pep in the
Hunter's Horn, April 1936 page 16, about how in a Bexar county, Texas
court trial in San Antonio my father, Blake Pyron, testified that he
could tell what his hounds were running by the sound of their barking.
He said the dogs "never changed their tune," when the lead Dog Pep was
killed. The man who killed her said the hounds were running his hogs.
Since the address of the farmer who killed Pep and another Pyron hound
that night was given as Von Ormy, its likely that the incident
occurred in the general area of the Quesenberry, which was on the north
side of the Medina River between the Somerset Road crossing and the Poteet highway.
January 5, 1935 - Went below Woods and turned loose on pack that had been running
an hour and a half. Ran until 7: 30 A.M. All of ours ran whole race except Lemon, Mack and
Irishman. Guynes, Mosely, Young, Rogers, Woods, Elgin. Stars, Jack, Dixie and Rowdy.
Pyron Hounds Tied To The Model A
This
car was used to pull the dog trailer, shown below, to the camps where
the Wolf Hunters built their camp fires and listened to the dogs out on
the trail.
My Comments: George names some wolf hunters on this hunt I have never heard of before. I think what he means by "went to Woods" was that they camped on land belonging to Woods, a regular in their
group.
January 26, 1935 - Went to pasture below woods and heard wolves howl in Byrom's pasture. Drove up road and Jerry and Dixie jumped hot and Jack and Pep trailed to Ballard and came back to the others.
Ran about forty five minutes and house dogs broke up the race. Beulah and Mack jumped another and ran an hour, and Jerry got caught in a trap and broke race up. Beulah and Smut and Mack trailed and jumped another one. About 2: 30 A.M. caught in Ballard. Elgin 4, Woods 3, We 10. Stars: Beulah, Dixie Smut, Pep.
My comments: So, Pep was still alive for this January 1935 hunt. I remember Smut clearly, because when I was four to five he had been retired from hunting and was allowed to stay outside the regular dog pen which was beside and to the south of the Blake Pyron cow pen. He hung around me a lot then and there was a story that one time a car was pulling in to the parking area at the Blake Pyron home and Smut got between the car and me to protect me.
Blake and George Pyron Dog Trailer Without Its Top
February 2, 1935 - Went to Ballard and Jack, Beulah, Queen, Pep and Smut jumped and ran for three hours and out of hearing. Finally located them in lower Ballard and turned young dogs loose. Ran back toward Wilson's goat proof fence. Left Cricket, Speck, Arp and Red in McDonald's still running. John McCain, Woods and us.
February 4, 1935 - Got Crickett, Speck, Arp and Red.
My comment: I am not sure where the Ballard land was, but it might have been in the Black Jacks. I remember several times in the thirties, probably about 1936,, that Daddy and George would be gone almost all night on a Saturday night coyote hunt in the Black Jacks, and then on Sunday Daddy would drive back down there to try to find hounds which had not come to the camp when they were called in by the horn. George and Daddy had horns made from the horns of Texas long horn cattle that they trained their dogs to come to. They would train them by blowing the horn before they fed the dogs and then on a hunt, if the dogs were in hearing distance and were not on a hot chase, they would come to the call of the horn.
February 13, 1935 - John McCain got Jack, Pep and Dixie and jumped by Fox's house at 3: 30 P.M. Ran until 6: 30. Lost.
February 14, 1935 - Went to John Caruthers camp and heard Luther's dogs running. Followed them and turned loose in White's pasture, Jack, Pep, Queen, Smut and Beulah. Ran up to Lytle and crossed highway. Caught by Ball's house.
My comments: John Caruthers is probably John P.G. Carthurs, whose name was John Punch Grant Caruthers, father of Hansel Caruthers and son of George Caruthers, who was one of the men involved in the First Town Site Company, with Carl Kurz, A.M. Pyron and Joe Dixon, who founded the town of Somerset. George says above that they heard the hounds of Luther James running. To recognize the barking of particular dogs in a pack requires some listening skill, which many of the Somerset Wolf Hunters had. Many of those hound dog men had "good ears."
February 16, 1935 - Went to Langley pasture. Pep jumped one hot. The dogs made two circles around Langley, one and a half hours and then left straight out to Black Hill. Part of the dogs went out of hearing. Jack came home. John McCain 2, We, 9. Stars: Pep and Queen.
March 13, 1935 - Drove in lane up to Bush pasture. Luther and I walked through to Box House lane. Pep jumped on Cockrell Hill. Ran below John Sharbers and lost. Luther 4, We, 3.
My comment: By "Box House" George might have meant the Old Box School House.
April 6, 1935 - Went to Ed Wells. Jack and Pep jumped hot fifty yards from car. Ran through by Sharbers to Hartungs and ran out of hearing most of the time. Jack, Pep and Queen. Left Jack and Beaulah.
My Comments: Ed Wells owned more than one tract of land in the Somerset-Lytle area.
April 13, 1935 - Went to Ed Wells. Jumped on Cockrell Hill, ran three and a half hours. Otto, John McCain. Campbells's dogs came to ours, and Elgin's, John Sharber's and Luther's came to ours.
My comments: Again, George lists Wolf Hunters here I do not remember.
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Darn....I love coyotes. They never ran from me even if only a fence separated us. Interesting history though. |
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Coyotes have become real pests here in west central Florida.
They have intruded into populated areas and killed pets. They've
destroyed watermelon crops. Apparently they love watermelon. Where we just moved from, 32 acres in the deep woods, we'd been hearing them for a couple of years....the yelps and howling had been getting closer and closer... they had in the past year started getting up close to the house, killed a bunch of our cats....Have no use for them at all. They are a nasty and invasive species here. On the other more populated side of the county they've killed many pets. And the problem is getting worse by the day. They're being spotted in highly populated areas on a regular basis. One of our regular bloggers here who lives near Lakeland, FL recently lost her dog to coyotes. They ripped him to pieces. THe vet was unable to save him. They are nasty critters once they start invading an area. I like most animals. I really have a hatred for coyotes. |
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I appreciate your position. However, we must remember, MamaKat, that a number of species are becoming bothersome because man is the invader. Natural populations would stay within their boundries if it were not for human overpopulation. Nothing is in balance anymore. |
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.So.......what do you propose we do about that??????? Start just killing people? |
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No point to that, mamaKat, and I hope you are not peeved with me
because I can understand why you hate coyotes. Given your experience,
I'd undoubtedly feel the same way. Unfortunately, nature has a way of
dealing with such matters rather harshly. No need for us to start
killing people or, better yet, sterilizing people at birth. Too late for
that anyway. Mauthus conducted population studies and Darwin incorporated them in his book "Origin of Species". Findings appearing in work completed by Mauthus have never been proved wrong. "Overpopulation will lead to the descruction of a species environment and then to the extinction of the species itself." The untire planet serves as man's environment. You can see where I'm going with this. Environmental variables in effect now: 1- The oceans are dying because sea water is acidifying, 84% of sea life contains dangerous levels of mythelmercury; off shore environments, the source of oceanic food chains, is being robbed of oxygen and replaced by hydrogen sulphide bacteria ( deadly in the extreme ), At least a third of extant coral reefs are dead or dying. there are floating garbage dumps the size of Texas in the pacific. Many sea birds swallow indegestable parts of these dumps and die, so do sea turtles, and over fishing ( especially to fulfil the demands of the Japanese whaling and sushi industries.) Parts of the Gulf of Mexico are dead. The same goes for the Northwest Coast of North America. 2- The current extinction rate is considerably higher than the normal background extinction rate. Too many species are dying right now. 3-Rainforests and coral reefs responsible for much of our biodiversity ( THE measure of the planet's health ) are on their way out. 4- Methane hydrate is being converted to methane gas at an unpresidented rate and mixing with CO2. The combination has a global warming effect. Global warming can have two consequences: an ice age if the oceanic temperature system is effected or the planet could become hot enough to prevent life existing on it's surface, as was the case 250-million years ago during the Permian /Triassic Interface extinction event. The planet has suffered through five extinction events, two of them due to a gamma ray burst and an asteroid. Overpopulation could ensure a 6th global extinction event ( Varify via your search engine, mamaKat. ) |
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George Pyron's "Wolf Races 1934-35" indiciate that the Ballard
land was not far from Somerset, either in north Atascosa county or in
Bexar county near Somerset. In a family meeting in Austin of 1978
George said they hunted mostly east and south of Somerset. For one hunt
George mentions a lower Ballard, showing that the Ballard land was
probably fairly large. For some hunts he writes about the same dogs
running in the Ballard as well as in or near the Wilson, Byrom, Woods
and McDonald lands. Coyotes tend to stay within their familiar territory
of two or three miles when jumped by a pack of hounds. So the Ballard
was likely not over three or four miles from Somerset. There was a Byrom family who owned about a hundred acres in the area of Old Somerset, just south of the Bexar-Atascosa county line, and not far from the Old Rock Baptist Church. In the thirties Andrew Byrom and his wife Flora owned part of the I.N. Cooper Survey number 378, and apparently also part of the G.W. Caruthers place. This is not the same Byrom family as that of Charley Byrom and his brother Fred Byrom, though the two Byrom families might have been related. The Robert Woods land where George said on January 25, 1935 they went to "a pasture below Woods" land and turned dogs loose, is probably the Robert Woods place not far east of the Gus Kurz land, but not as far east as Senior Road, where a McDonald family probably lived then. There was a J.K. Wilson tract of land also bordering to the east of the Gus Kurz place, but to the northeast, which could have been the land with the Wilson goat proof fence George mentions. But where the Ballard land was in the thirties remains a mystery. It had to be near Somerset. Its interesting that there was a man named Andrew Jackson Ballard living maybe seven miles northwest of Somerset in 1940. So far I have not found land he owned closer to Somerset. But George and our father Blake Pyron, and their "Wolf Hunter" friends did not hunt up in the area west of Von Ormy which was not far from an unincorporated place called Atascosa and the Old Pearsall Road. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=88389095 "Andrew Jackson Ballard, Jr..........Birth: Jun. 27, 1895, Frankston, Anderson County, Texas, USA Death: Feb. 13, 1987, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, USA" According to these dates Andrew Jackson Ballard lived to be 92. "Spouse: Hassie B. Ballard (1896 - 1987)" Andrew Jackson Ballard, or A.J. Ballard and family, are in the 1940 census for Bexar county, Justice Precinct 5, which is Somerset and nearby South Bexar county areas, E.D. number 15-27, Page 29, James McMonagle and family are listed on Kinney Road in house number 293, and his brother Kenneth McMonagle is in house number 300 also on Kinney Road. Then the census page, enumerated by Mrs Hazel E. Bailey says "Highway North 81, which is now Interstate 35, and here she lists A.J. Ballard and family in house number 305. A.J., or Andrew Jackson Ballard, is age 44, and his wife is listed as Hassie, age 43, a son Jack as 21, Harold, age 19, and Dorothy at 13 - in 1940. Hazel Bailey, Ted Bailey's mother, lists house number 304 as belonging to H.A. Long, and house number 306 to Thomas Lopez. House number 307 is listed for Robert Barker. Some Bexar county land transactions in the Bexar county Clerk's online system indicate that Andrew Jackson Ballard owned land in the San Antonio Suburban Irrigated Farms or subdivision in about 1940. This land was north of Highway 81 - now Interstate 35 - and up toward the Old Pearsall Road in the area of Jarrett and Luckey Roads. On April 30, 1945 H.A. Long, listed as living in house number 304, not far from A.J. Ballard, sold 4.98 acres to A.J. Ballard out of the Alexos Bustillos Survey 56, which is in the Suburban Irrigated subdivision north of Highway 81. On September 24, 1936 Andrew Jackson Ballard bought ten acres of the A. Bustillos Survey 56 - portions of lots 5 and 9 in Block 72 of the San Antonio Irrigated Subdivision. On April 1, 1947 A.W. Cooper sold 9.5 acres to A.J. Ballard out of the Jullian Conti Survey 349, on Kinney Road. This may be on Kinney Road north of Interstate 35. Both James and Kenneth McMonagle are listed in the 1940 census as living on Kinney Road south of Highway 81, James in house number 293 and Kenneth in house number 300. But Kinney Road crosses Highway 81 - Interstate 35 - and runs north to cross the Old Pearsall Road. The area where A.J. Ballard owned ten acres in 1940 is near Jarrett and Luckey Roads north of Highway 81 a mile or more. James McMonagle and family lived on Kinney Road in the early forties and sent their son Joe McMonagle to grade school at Somerset. He was in my Third Grade class, with Kathleen Durham as our teacher. She had three of us, Joe McMonagle, Lamar Miller and myself, in a play in the school Auditorium. Dorothy McCulloch was also in our Third Grade class. The play was about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, but I do not remember who played these roles, or what the third role was in the play. But third graders learning lines in a play and remembering them on stage in front of many people in the school Auditorium is significant. Joe McMonagle retired from the Marines as a major general. Kinney Road runs north from Briggs Road which is just north of Old Bexar. The distance of Kinney Road at Old Bexar to Highway 81 is about two and a half miles. Its another mile or two north of Highway 81 to the A.J. Ballard house in 1940. So, the A.J. Ballard home in 1940 was about six or seven miles northwest of Somerset. |
