08-13-01

James Arthur Harmon is a fourth generation descendant of the Harmon family that settled in the Onega region on a farm that has produced corn, cotton, hay, livestock, poultry and all types of vegetables. The products of the land have been a necessity for a growing family and their friends during three centuries.

This land was been possessed and occupied by the Harmon family since before the Civil War. This farm also produced the hard wood timbers that supplied the railroad ties for the original building of the rail tracks through Onega.

James Arthur Harmon’s grandfather, Jacob Arthur, and his great-grandfather, Will Harmon, helped to saw the logs and trim with an ax the timbers which became the foundation of the steel rails that carried the giant steam engines with their big loads of freight to a western and developing Texas and great southwest.

James A. and his father Jacob A. along with their grandfathers have spent their life-time on this farm that is slowly going away from the life in log houses built by the Native Americans to an area in demand for simple and quiet living.

James’s grandfather was bitten by a spider while in a corn crib back in 1898 and died very soon after the bite.

That very same log constructed corn crib is still in existence today, and I have included a photo taken this week of the log structure in its decaying stages. It is bad condition, but it is still in a restorable condition with a lot of help.

While I was visiting with James this week, he related a story of a few experiences he has had in the old corn crib.

He described it as having a large roof over the west side of the log crib that would allow the team to pull the wagon load ed with corn up and into and under the roof, and the corn was pitched off the wagon into the cribs. It was constructed so that the corn could be scooped and shoveled above the wall and then land down in the bottom of the crib. It did have a door, which is not obvious from the photo.

James related a very interesting story about when he and his little brother were in the crib one day getting some corn to feed their livestock. As they were scooping up the corn, they stumbled upon a large white crock jar that had a corn cob stuffed into the mouth of the jug. The corn cob kept the outside elements from getting down into the aging manufactured product in the jug.

He and his little brother struggled to get the huge ten gallon jug up to where they could see what it was doing in the corn crib, when he suddenly lost his balance and the jug toppled over and the valuable liquid began to spill down into the corn. He suddenly found that the leaking crock container was out of balance, and as a ten year-old boy, he and his brother were not able to bring the crock jar upright.

The crock had been hidden in the corn to allow it to age. James described the liquid in the jar as top quality liquid. I believe they sampled the drink.

The most outstanding thing that came out as he was retelling the event, was that his mother said to his father that if he didn’t wear them out that she would.

As James is nearing the age of retirement, he still has fond memories of this and other childhood happenings on the Harmon Farm.

Ronny Beaty along with two Aztec Indians were the construction workers on the tipi. On the left of Ronny is Genaro Ponce and on the right is Santos Gonzales. They both reside in Pilot Point and are talented construction workers. They plan to make the tipi so that some local artist worker can draw a buffalo and other animals on the outside of the tipi. The tipi is still not in its final stage.

The Texas Cherokee tribe Chief, D.L. Hicks was in town from his home in East Texas, and he was very impressed with the construction work and workers. He commented that the Native Americans have come a long way since this popular type of residence. Many of the Cherokees wanted to go by and look, yet many had told me they had already observed the new constructed art work and were impressed.

More on Texas Tax Reform later, they are in the process of locating a meeting place to accommodate three or four hundred people for the August 23, meeting.

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